


Moving In, Moving On

by pleasanthell



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 22:19:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 42,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2205114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasanthell/pseuds/pleasanthell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes doing the right thing didn’t feel so right. Especially as she was packing up the apartment she could no longer afford. Because she didn’t have a job. Because she did the right thing.</p><p>Kowtowing to a politically motivated boss wasn’t in Holly’s wheelhouse. It wasn’t something that she would ever do and her career was obliterated because of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sometimes doing the right thing didn’t feel so right. Especially as she was packing up the apartment she could no longer afford. Because she didn’t have a job. Because she did the right thing.

 

Kowtowing to a politically motivated boss wasn’t in Holly’s wheelhouse. It wasn’t something that she would ever do and her career was obliterated because of it.

 

Holly carried a box down from her bedroom and looked around. She wasn’t going to have anywhere to take her furniture. Holly felt an overwhelming sense of loss. She never had a family, but now she didn’t have a job, she didn’t have an apartment, and she didn’t have…she didn’t want to think about a great relationship she walked away from.

 

Holly put the box in her hands down onto the couch and pulled her stereo out of it. She placed it on the kitchen counter and put her phone down on top of it. She had three days to pack up and move out. Tonight she was going to mourn the loss of her career. Holly cranked up the music and got out an old bottle of bourbon that she was saving for a special occasion. She didn’t have anything to celebrate, but she was going to treat herself anyway.

 

Holly put the bourbon in the tumbler and took the bottle with her up the stairs. She sat down on the landing and put her legs between the spindles. She looked down at the living room and the kitchen. She saw all the things that she’d so carefully acquired and curated. Everything that she worked so hard for was gone.

 

Holly took a long drink of her bourbon. It was smooth and burned all the way down. Holly rested her forehead on the railing and listened to the music engulf her.

 

When the music drastically decreased in volume, Holly’s head shot up. She looked down at the first floor and saw Gail standing there with a paper bag around a liquor bottle. She just looked up at Holly and gestured to the bottle. “I heard what happened.”

 

Tears filled Holly’s eyes for the first time. She covered her mouth and watched Gail put the bottle down through glassy eyes. Gail walked up the stairs and sat down next to Holly. She put her arm around Holly and that was the last motion that sent Holly crumbling into her.

 

Holly sobbed for five minutes and then silently cried for twenty more. Everything she had worked for was gone. Medical school was a waste. When the Chief Medical Examiner was done with her, she’d lose her license to practice even though she was in the right.

 

When Holly was sure that she didn’t have any more tears, she slowly sat up and wiped her face. She sniffled, “I’m sorry.”

 

Gail shook her head, “Don’t be sorry. What happened? You are the best pathologist in the department.”

 

Holly took a sip of her bourbon. “My boss wanted a quick end to the Distillery District murders. He said that he’s getting pressure for the mayor and the police chief to identify the man who killed all those people as that mentally disturbed person who pulled a gun on Traci.”

 

“He’s not the guy?” Gail asked.

 

Holly shook her head, “There’s no way. He wanted me to forge the papers and I wouldn’t do it so I was fired to insubordination and he told me that he’s going to tell the medical board that I forged the papers that said it wasn’t him.” Holly hung her head.

 

“You’re just going to let him?” Gail asked, completely confused.

 

Holly frowned, “What am I supposed to do? If I fight it, I’ll need lawyers, but I don’t have a job. If I call him out on it, I’ll be the disgruntled employee. Even if I did have lawyers, I wouldn’t get my job back.” Holly shook her head, “I’ve gone through this in my head all the different ways that I can and there’s no way that I come out of this okay.”

 

Gail paused for a moment, “Well have any of your scenarios involved me?”

 

Holly wasn’t sure what Gail was angling for, but she asked anyway, “What do you mean?”

 

Gail stood up and offered her hands to Holly. Holly took them, trusting Gail and let Gail pull her up. Gail led the way down the stairs and to the front door. She picked up Holly’s coat off of the rack and handed it to her. Holly put it on, “Where are we going?”

 

“We’re going for a drive,” Gail stated without further explanation.

 

They went for a little drive before ending up in front of a grand house, situated in the neighborhood where Holly knew Gail’s parents lived.

 

Gail got out of the car and Holly did as well. “Gail, where are we?”

 

They walked up the lush lawn side by side and Gail stopped at the front door. She rang the bell and looked at Holly, “This is the house of the my godfather. He is the Chief of Police.”

 

Before Holly could protest, the door opened up. A tall man with a rounded jaw, in a blue sweater opened the door. He smiled, “Gail, what a surprise. It’s nice to see you.”

 

“Hey Tom,” Gail smiled. She hugged him and he stepped back to let them into the house. Gail turned back to Holly, “This is my friend Holly and she has some information on the Distillery District Killer cases.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Tom looked at Holly with a questioning gaze.

 

Holly licked her lips. She knew what Gail was doing and Holly was just going to keep doing what she had been doing before and telling the truth. “The man that the Chief Medical Examiner says is the killer…it isn’t him.”

 

Tom looked behind Holly and then closed the door. He walked them both to the kitchen and they all sat around the table. Tom had a copy of the case file already on his table. Holly was able to explain to him all the ways that the dead man accused of all those crimes, wasn’t really responsible. It took an hour and a kitchen table covered in crime scene photos for Holly’s tale to be told.

 

Tom nodded silently. Gail looked up at him a little apprehensively. She knew that sometimes people she thought were good people weren’t really. And she knew that sometimes public officials covered things up so that there would be trust that the police department could do their jobs. She just hoped that the man standing in front of her – the one that sent her a twenty in a card for every birthday that she had until she turned eighteen was still the man she thought he was.

 

Tom looked at Gail, “Why don’t you make some tea? I have to make a few phone calls.” Then Tom looked down at Holly who was still staring at the crime scene photos. He put his hand on his shoulder, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

 

“What about her job?” Gail asked.

 

Tom swallowed, “There isn’t much I can do about it right now. I’ll call the mayor tomorrow and we’ll have lunch. It could take a few weeks to clear everything up. But we’ll do our best.”

 

“I understand,” Holly nodded. She was hopeful when Tom looked like he was receptive to her information. However, those hopes were dashed.

 

Gail went to the kitchen to start some tea and Holly followed behind her, leaving behind the photos from the case that was her demise. Holly crossed her arms and leaned back on the couch.

 

Gail watched the fire under the kettle burn for a moment before moving back to Holly. She took Holly’s hand, “Do you have anywhere to live yet?”

 

Holly looked down at Gail’s hand holding her own, “Some friends have offered, but…”

 

“Come live with me,” Gail offered.

 

Holly met Gail’s eyes, “Really?”

 

Gail nodded, “Of course. You can have my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch. I usually sleep there anyway.”

 

Holly frowned, “I couldn’t put you out.”

 

“You’re not putting me out,” Gail rubbed the back of Holly’s hand, “We can move all of your furniture into my parents’ basement until you figure out what you want to do with it.”

 

Holly smiled, “You’ll help me move?”

 

Gail grinned, “Yeah. That’s kind of my thing now.”

 

Holly chuckled and looked down. When she looked back at Gail she looked over her face. Something was different. Maybe a little of the self-defensive snark was gone. Just a little. And maybe Gail had matured more in the past few weeks while they were apart than she had in her entire life.

 

Holly took her hand back from Gail and wrapped her arms around Gail’s shoulders, “Thank you so much.”

 

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get your job back and save your apartment,” Gail rubbed Holly’s back.

 

Holly took a deep cleansing breath until Gail’s arms, knowing that someone had her back beyond all her other friends. She had somewhere to live that wouldn’t drive her mad and that was a start. She reveled in Gail’s arms for a few more minutes before pulling away.

 

Gail and Holly said goodnight to Tom when he was between phone calls. As they walked out to the car, Holly looked down at Gail’s hand swinging by her side. She tentatively took Gail’s hand and threaded her fingers through Gail’s. She wasn’t sure if it was an okay thing to do, but she wanted to try and she felt like she needed it.

  
Gail slowed her walk and looked over at Holly. She smiled and tightened her grip on Holly’s hand. She knew that Holly needed her right then and she would be whatever Holly needed her to be. It didn’t have to mean anything, but judging by the look in Holly’s eyes, it meant everything.


	2. Chapter 2

“Is this okay?” Holly asked, placing her coat rack on the ground by the front door.

 

“Holly, you live here too,” Gail gestured to the coat rack, “You can put your coat rack where you want it.”

 

“I just don’t want to crowd you,” Holly set the coat rack down and picked up Gail’s coat off of the couch and put it on the rack.

 

Gail flopped back on the couch, “If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have a lot of furniture to begin with. I’ve been living with Dov and Chris for a long time and all I had when I moved in here was a bed, a dresser, a TV, and a coffee table that I’m pretty sure is Dov’s.”

 

“What do you want?” Holly asked, “I have an entire apartment worth of furniture that I can bring over before it goes into your parents’ basement.”

 

“We need kitchen stuff,” Gail looked up at Holly. “I’ve been eating mac n cheese for like a week.”

 

“Okay,” Holly looked at her phone and typed a note out. “What about a TV stand so that we can use the coffee table as a coffee table?” She gestured to the coffee table that the TV was sitting on.

 

Gail nodded, “Oh and that drawer thing you had in your bathroom and your nightstands.”

 

“I should probably figure out where I’m going to store my clothes,” Holly looked around, looking for somewhere to put an armoire or something.

 

“I already cleaned out half my closet,” Gail offered. “And my dresser.”

 

Holly was surprised but thankful. That was one less thing she was going to have to worry about. Holly made a few more notes in her phone before walking into the kitchen to see exactly what Gail was missing.

 

“Can I ask you something?” Gail called from the living room.

  
  


Holly looked at Gail through the kitchen pass-through. “Yeah.” She leaned on the counter and put her phone down.

 

“Why are you staying here?” Gail asked, “I’m not complaining or anything. I’m sure that you have a bunch of other people with bigger places that asked you if you needed somewhere to stay.” Gail blinked and asked, “Why me?”

 

Holly left her phone on the counter and rounded the wall separating the kitchen and the living room. Holly leaned back on the wall and put her hands behind her. “Um, I don’t know that I can articulate exactly why.” Holly sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and added, “I think because I know that you won’t judge me when I freak out, which I will a few times before I figure out what I’m going to do. I can be myself completely with you and not worry about you pressuring me in any direction.” Holly’s eyes teared up. She looked up at the ceiling and swallowed the tears, “I just need some time. I have some money saved, but I need somewhere safe to figure it out.” Holly’s eyes caught Gail’s and she confessed, “I feel safest with you.”

 

Gail nodded slowly, “There’s really no pressure. You can stay as long as you want.”

 

A tears tracked down Holly’s cheek, “Thank you.”

 

Gail stood up and walked over to Holly, pulling Holly into her arms. “You’re smart, Holly. You’re going to be okay no matter what you do.”

 

Holly clung to Gail and buried her face in Gail’s shoulder. She muttered, “Thank you.”

 

Gail put one of her hands on the back of Holly’s head, just cradling her head, trying to comfort her in any way she could.

 

After a few minutes, Holly felt okay to take a step back. She ran a hand through her hair. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, “Um, do you like crepes?”

 

Gail quirked an eyebrow, ‘I’m not really hungry right now.”

 

“I mean in general,” Holly asked with a smile, “I have a crepe pan and spreader set that I never had time or energy to use. It might be nice to get to do that.”

 

“Yeah,” Gail nodded, “I like crepes.”

 

“Good,” Holly smiled. “Is it okay if I take a shower?”

 

Gail chuckled, “You live here, nerd. It’s your shower too.”

 

Holly shyly smiled, “Sorry. I keep forgetting.” Holly walked to the bedroom and stopped in the doorway, “What time do you go in to shift tomorrow?”

 

Gail sat back down on the couch, “I don’t go in tomorrow. I took the day off to help you move your stuff. My dad said we could use his truck.”

 

Holly leaned on the doorway to the bedroom. She looked fondly at Gail, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

 

“You don’t have to find out if you won’t want to,” Gail leaned back into the couch.

 

Holly just smiled. Despite everything that happened, this did bring her and Gail back together even if they weren’t together together yet. For that Holly was thankful. She nodded to Gail and then went to take a shower.

 

There was a fight over who was sleeping where and eventually Holly won because she just laid on the couch and refused to move, even after Gail threatened to tase her.

 

When Gail woke up, she smelled something that she had never smelled in her new apartment. It smelled like a warm breakfast.

 

After brushing her teeth and washing her face, Gail walked into the living room and looked into the kitchen. Holly was standing at the stove, dancing to some internal beat and flipped a crepe.

 

When Gail got to the kitchen doorway, she saw that Holly’s internal rhythm was earbuds plugged into her phone. Holly had neglected to put on pants after waking up and was wearing Gail’s grey PT shirt from the police academy because she didn’t bring any clothes over yet. Holly brought the crepe spreader up to her lips as she softly sang a long, “Turn the beat around. Love to hear percussion. Turn it upside down. Love to hear percussion.” Holly picked up the crepe pan and danced to a place on the counter next to her.

 

Holly picked up her phone and twirled around. She dropped her phone when she saw Gail sending it and her earbuds clattering to the floor. Holly put her hand to her chest, “You scared me.”

 

Gail smiled, “I’m sorry.”

 

Holly knelt down to pick up her phone, “How much of that did you see?”

 

Gail stepped into the kitchen and got one of her three mugs out of the cabinet. “I just saw that last half of 1995.” Gail poured some of the coffee that was already made.

 

“Oh good,” Holly turned the music off and put her phone on the counter, “1987 was before that and that would have really been embarrassing.” She picked up a plate of crepes, “I have hazelnut chocolate sauce and strawberries as a topping.” She offered the plate to Gail.

 

Gail looked at the plate, “I think that only answer to that is both.”

 

Holly smiled and took the plate to the opposite counter. She put strawberries on top and drizzled the hazelnut chocolate sauce on top. She handed the plate to Gail who took it.

 

“This is amazing,” Gail smiled. “Really.”

 

Holly leaned on the counter and smiled, “It is the least I can do.”

 

Gail and Holly ate breakfast at the coffee table, watching reality TV. After breakfast, Gail insisted on doing the dishes while Holly got dressed. Gail put on her clothes after the dishwasher was running and Holly drove them to Gail’s parents’ house.

 

They were both at work so Gail used her key to open the door and went to the garage to get out her dad’s truck that he left for them. Holly took her car as well so that she could make as few trips as possible. It was almost four in the afternoon by the time they had gotten all of Holly’s furniture into Gail’s parents’ basement.

 

“Why is all your furniture so heavy?” Gail fell back on the love seat that was now in her parents’ basement.

 

“I don’t know,” Holly collapsed on the dining table. She laid out across the whole thing, “I should have just bought inflatable furniture.”

 

“Now that would have been the grown up thing to do,” Gail lulled her head to look over at Holly. “We should celebrate.”

 

“How do you suppose we do that?” Holly tugged at the shirt she was wearing, “I’m sweating like a pig.”

 

“Me too,” Gail agreed. “I say we take showers, change clothes, and go get a drink.”

 

There was a beep that let them know that one of the doors in the house had opened. They heard Elaine called, “Gail?”

 

“In the basement,” Gail yelled back.

 

Holly sat up, but stayed sitting on the table. Elaine walked down the stairs in her uniform and looked at all the furniture that was now taking residence in the basement. “Did you get everything okay? Do I need to call Steve to help?”

 

“No, we’re done,” Gail ran a hand over her hair.

 

When Elaine looked at her Holly mentioned, “Thank you so much for letting me store my furniture down here. I’ll get it out as soon as I can.”

 

“No rush,” Elaine smiled, “I talked to Tom today and he’s launching an investigation into your termination. It’ll take a little while, but you hang in there. If you need anything, please let me know.”

 

“Thank you,” Holly nodded graciously.

 

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Elaine asked the pair.

 

Gail immediately stood up, “Actually we have a bunch of stuff that we need to take to our apartment before it gets too late. Maybe some other time.”

 

Holly followed the excuse and Gail out to the car. After unloading all of Holly’s clothes into the closet, all of the kitchen stuff into the kitchen, the nightstands, and the drawer for the bathroom, they took turns taking showers. As Holly was waiting for Gail to get out of the shower, she started to blow dry her hair in her underwear and a tank top, only a shower curtain separating her and Gail in the one bathroom they had to share.

 

“You know,” Gail said from her side of the shower curtain as she shampooed her hair, “We could get bunk beds.”

 

Holly chuckled and turned off the blow dryer, “Just like camp.”

 

“You can’t sleep on the couch every night,” Gail stated.

 

“I can,” Holly answered, running a brush through her hair, “I did it most of the way through medical school because I studied until I was too tired to get to bed. I can do it again.”

 

Gail poked her head out of the shower, “No offense, but you were younger in medical school.” She ducked back into the shower.

 

Holly looked at the dark red shower curtain that she couldn’t see through. She shook her head, “Thanks a lot.”

 

“Twin beds,” Gail suggested.

 

Holly turned the blow dryer back on, illustrating her displeasure with the idea.

 

Gail yelled over the dryer, “Pull out couch!”

 

Holly turned off the dryer and thought it over, “That could work. I actually have one of those.”

 

“Ugh, it’s the one that’s in the back corner of the basement, under all the stuff isn’t it?” Gail huffed.

 

Holly chuckled, “Yeah.”

 

Gail finished rinsing off and turned off the water. She stuck her arm out of the shower and pulled the towel off of the rack, “I’ll make Dov and Nick carry it out tomorrow. I almost died the getting it down there because my moving partner lifts like a bird.” Gail wrapped the towel around herself and moved the shower curtain to the side. She stepped out and walked into the bedroom.

 

Holly couldn’t even speak when she was Gail in the towel. She looked at herself in the mirror and silently told herself to hold it together. She was in the middle of a massive life crisis and starting something with Gail might make it more complicated.

 

It always seemed inevitable that they would get back together, but Holly didn’t want to get into something that she had the potential to blow up because she was in the middle of a life-changing transition in her life.

 

However, there was no denying that Gail in a towel was something so sexy that it made Holly question her usually stable resolve. Holly went back to drying her hair and then just brushing it out. She wasn’t going to do much else to it.

 

Gail was dressed when she appeared in the doorway. She was using the towel to roughly dry her hair and when she put the towel down, Holly looked at her in the mirror. Holly grinned, “Sexy.”

 

Gail’s hair was sticking up everywhere and she rolled her eyes. She grabbed her brush that was next to Holly’s and brushed her hair down. “Ass.”

 

Holly laughed and stepped out of the bathroom to give Gail her space. Holly went to the closet to look for a sweater and saw her clothes hung up in the closet next to Gail’s for the first time. She could see the stark difference in their styles and smiled at how, even though it was so different, it looked so natural. She grabbed a green sweater and pulled it on. Then she picked up some brown boots out of the bottom of the closet.

 

Gail was pulling on her black boots while she sat on the bed when Holly stepped out of the closet. Gail looked at Holly, “I knew this was going to happen. You’ve been living here for a day and you’re already stealing my shoes.”

 

Holly looked at the boots in her hand. She didn’t actually realize that they weren’t hers. “Oh. Sorry,” Holly started moving back to the closet.

 

“Hey,” Gail stood up and caught Holly’s arm, “I was just kidding. You can wear whatever you find.”

 

“Oh,” Holly nodded. She didn’t want to upset Gail in any way and she was forcing herself to walk on so much glass around Gail that it was getting ridiculous. Holly sat on the bed and pulled the boots on.

 

Gail stood up and waited for Holly at the door of the bedroom. “Ready?”

 

Holly nodded. She stood and smiled at Gail. As she walked out the door, she stopped in front of Gail and gave her a hug. She could never thank her enough for all that she was doing for her. Even if the most helpful thing Gail had been doing was being herself.

 

Gail held Holly firmly against herself. She swayed a little bit with Holly in her arms, “Are you okay to go out?”

 

Holly nodded. She pulled away with a smile, “Just remind me when I start to order the seventy year old scotch that I’m on a beer budget now.”

 

“Don’t even worry about it,” Gail turned Holly around and put her hands on Holly’s hips, pushing her toward the front door, “Tonight is on me.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Gail was exhausted after shift. She was already going over in her head what she was going to do when she got home. She was going to fall face first onto her bed and go to sleep.

 

However when she opened the front door, she knew she was going to eat first. Something smelled delicious. Gail groaned, “What is that?”

 

“Homemade spinach ravioli,” Holly slid a bowl toward Gail through the pass through.

 

“You’re going to make me fat,” Gail sat down on the barstools that Holly brought over from her furniture cache in the Pecks’ basement.

 

Holly just smiled and started cleaning up. She didn’t have much left to do because she cleaned as she went. “How was work?”

 

Gail shrugged as she took her first bite, “McNally and I chased a pair of kids down an alley.

 

One of them kicked her in the shins so I’m going to say I had a good day.”

 

Holly smiled more brightly, “Sounds exciting.”

 

Gail looked around. A chair had been placed by the window and a small bookshelf sat next to it. All the books that Gail had been keeping in her closet were now displayed on it. “You rearranged.” She looked down at the carpet and saw the lines from the wheels of the vacuum, “And cleaned.”

 

“Well,” Holly wiped down the counters before tossing the sponge into the sink, “I have a lot of free time on my hands.”

 

“Can’t you consult for the department or something?” Gail asked. “God this is so good. Or you could change careers. Seriously this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.” Gail paused. “Well second best.” She waggled her eyebrows at Holly.

 

“Oh my god,” Holly blushed and looked away.

 

“You’re a perv,” Gail grinned, “I was talking about cheese puffs.”

 

Holly knew that was a lie. She just shook her head in astonishment. When the leftovers were put up, Holly looked around and walked to the cabinet under the stove, “Would you like some wine?”

 

“Please,” Gail nodded. She watched Holly open a bottle of wine and then reach for a wine glass. Gail watched Holly’s long legs that were sticking out of her shorts stretch so that she could reach the wine glasses that ended up on the top shelf. Gail missed being able to just walk up to Holly and touch her – run her hands up and down Holly’s lean, tan legs.

 

They had been living together for almost a week and were stuck in some kind of relationship limbo. Gail wasn’t going to pressure Holly in any direction. She just wished that she knew where Holly’s comfort line was so that she could comfort Holly physically and know that she wasn’t stepping over any lines.

 

When Holly slid the wine in front of her, Gail asked, “Are you doing okay?”

 

Holly took a deep breath and leaned on the counter in front of Gail. She looked at her hands on the counter and answered, “I watched three hours of the Cooking Channel today.”

 

Gail opened her mouth, but wasn’t sure how to respond.

 

Holly sighed softly and shook her head, “I’m not okay. But I’m trying. The cooking helps I think. It keeps my hands busy.”

 

“Well in that case, you’re allowed to make me fat,” Gail reached across the counter and put her hand on top of Holly’s, “I’m eligible for a detective rotation soon so I won’t have to run after anymore snot nose kids anyway.”

 

“Any requests?” Holly asked lightly. She took her hand out from under Gail’s and turned to the refrigerator.

 

“Something with cheese puffs,” Gail tried to put a smile on Holly’s face. She smiled brightly when it worked.

 

Holly poured some juice into a glass and then replaced the juice in the refrigerator, “I will see what I can do.”

 

“I don’t go in until second shift tomorrow,” Gail mentioned, “We should go shopping.”

 

“Shopping?” Holly quirked an eyebrow.

 

Gail tilted her head, “C’mon. It’ll be fun. There could be a new crepe pan in it for you.” Gail reached across the counter and poked Holly in the stomach.

 

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go shopping with Gail. However, since graduating from medical school, Holly had never been really broke. Yes, she had bills and such, but she always had some extra money laying around for whatever she wanted to do. Now she found herself counting every penny. She worried about what would happen if she and Gail got into a massive fight and she had to move out. There had been no indication of turmoil between them. It was actually the opposite, but before in places where Holly never had to worry before, she found herself wrought with anxiety.

 

Gail seemed to know what was going on in Holly’s brain. She tapped the counter, “Or we could go to the...park?”

 

Holly immediately laughed, “Oh yeah? You wanna hit the batting cages again while we’re at it?”

 

“Hey I’m trying to be nice here,” Gail playfully spat back

 

“I know,” Holly’s smile faded a little, from playful to thankful. “I know. I just don’t like the feeling of...helplessness. I want to go shopping with you. Really. I just don’t want you to pay for everything.”

 

“I’m not paying for everything,” Gail protested, but knew that in the past week she had paid for the majority of their outings and their food. She was also the one paying rent and utilities. “I mean, I have the means to make sure you have a good time. Can we please just tomorrow - just for a couple hours...forget about money or whatever. We can go to the batting cages if you want to, but you have to get out of this apartment or you’re going to turn into some kind of Martha Stewart freakshow and then I’ll have to arrest you for insider trading. It wouldn’t be pretty.”

“I am kind of losing my mind here,” Holly traced an invisible pattern on the counter. “I’m not completely broke you know.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. You have royalty money for your book that you refused to have a good time with,” Gail finished off her dinner and pushed her plate back toward Holly. “It’s your retirement.” Gail took a sip of her wine to wash down the delicious meal she just finished. “We cannot let you spend any of that. I’ll probably be needing to borrow some in fifty years when I’ve spent my RRSP on cheese puff flavored fiber pills and tequila.”

 

Holly finally agreed to go shopping with Gail in the morning with the stipulation that on the way home they went to the grocery store. Gail agreed with that and said a sleepy goodnight to Holly before retreating to her bedroom.

 

Gail left her door open most of the way as she did most nights in case Holly needed her. After her nightly routine was complete, Gail laid down in her bed and listened. She heard the creaks of the sofa bed being pulled out and heard Holly making her bed. No matter how often Gail tried to help, Holly rebuffed her stating that she was perfectly capable of doing it herself.

 

Gail let her eyes slide closed and was about to succumb to sleep when she heard a small sniffle come from the living room. Gail sat up in her bed and listened more intently. She heard another sniffle followed by a shaky breath. Gail felt her heart break into a million tiny pieces. She knew that Holly was really trying to be okay, but it was mostly a front.

 

In the dark of the apartment, Gail slid out of bed. She very slowly padded to her door and peeked out. She could barely see Holly’s outline, covered in a blanket on the pulled out bed. Gail pulled her door open completely and just stood there for a moment making sure that she wasn’t hearing things.

 

Holly shifted slightly, the uncomfortable springs of the part-time bed groaning with her movements. There was another tear fueled sniffle that sent Gail walking toward the obviously distraught woman.

 

At first, Gail wasn’t sure what to do. She wasn’t sure that Holly knew she was there. She could sit on the side of the bed and rub Holly’s back. She could touch her hair or hold her hand. But none of those things seemed like they were enough. The one thing that Holly had worked almost ten years for was ripped away from her - unfairly so.

 

Gail finally moved to the bed. She laid down behind Holly. Holly felt Gail behind her and tried to pull herself together, but it was damn near impossible to stop the tears that had come every night since she lost everything.

 

When Gail’s arm encircled her waist and she felt Gail press her body against her back, Holly lost it.

 

Tears found their way into Gail’s eyes as well. She wanted Holly to be happy and when Holly was absolutely broken like this, it wrecked Gail. She hugged Holly tighter and dropped a kiss on the side of her neck. She didn’t say anything because, there were no words that would make any of Holly’s situation okay or any kind of better.

 

Holly rolled over in Gail’s arms to face her. She needed something to hold onto - someone to hold on to. She grabbed fistfuls of Gail’s shirt in her hands and pulled Gail as close as she could get. She needed Gail in every way she could think of. She needed Gail to hold her physically and be there for her emotionally. For the first time in her life, Holly allowed herself to need someone completely and unabashedly.


	4. Chapter 4

Gail didn’t get much sleep. She spent most of the night stroking Holly’s hair and showering her face with kisses. It wasn’t something that Gail would do for just anyone. Really she wouldn’t do it for anyone, but Holly.

 

Gail was awake when the sun came up. Holly had let exhaustion overtake her. She was asleep, curled in to Gail. Their legs were tangled together under Holly’s blankets. Gail just watched Holly take slow deep breath, wracking her brain for any way to get Holly’s job back.

 

For the past few nights, Gail would lay into bed and think about how this situation could end. Ideally, Holly got her job back and she wanted to get back together with Gail. However, being a Peck, Gail prepared for the worst. One of the worst scenarios for Gail was the one where Holly got offered a job out of the city. Another terrible scenario was that Holly gave up her, albeit weird, dream of being a forensic pathologist and went to work with Dr. Boob-Job. Gail had seen jobs that people hate make them into a shell of who they once were. She couldn’t take it if any of the sparkle was forced out of Holly’s smile because she was trapped in a job she hated.

 

Gail kept badgering Tom about the investigation to which he always told her that he couldn’t tell her anything.  It was getting tiresome and annoying. Gail wanted to launch her own investigation, but she didn’t trust herself to go near the bastard that fired Holly while she had access to a taser and her baton.

 

However, as she gazed upon Holly, Gail felt some of her anger dissipate. Holly was one of the most naturally beautiful people she’s ever met. She was a nerd and a dork, but she was beautiful and graceful. Holly was so understanding and warm. If her job had not made sure that Gail knew bad things happened to people who didn’t deserve it, this situation did.

 

Gail dropped a kiss on Holly’s forehead and rested her head on the pillow Holly was using. She wanted to make sure that she wasn’t too far when Holly woke up and right then, anything more than a few inches was too far away.

 

It was a few hours later when Holly finally woke up. Gail was asleep, but still holding her protectively. Holly smiled and ducked her head, her forehead gently bumping into Gail’s collarbone.  In this dark, dingy world that Holly was living in, Gail was the one bright shining light. Gail had proven herself time and again during this crisis. She was unwavering in her support and Holly just wished there was more she could do to repay Gail.

 

Holly pulled back so that she could look at Gail. It was almost juvenile how giddy she felt just being close to Gail again. She wanted more than anything to just kiss Gail and start sharing the actual bed in the bedroom, but Holly wouldn’t commit to that relationship until she could commit completely. And now her attentions were divided between the loss of her career and the loss of her apartment. It was the loss of the dream and the loss of her independence, two things that she cherished the most. She wouldn’t put Gail through a relationship where she couldn’t devote the time and thoughts that Gail deserved wholeheartedly into it.

 

She could, however, be Gail’s friend - her best friend. She could dote and cook for Gail while being her friend. She just wished that she could find a way to let Gail know she appreciated everything that she was doing deeply.

 

The longer Holly looked at Gail, the more kissable Gail’s lips looked, the more she wanted to rake her fingers through Gail’s hair and the most she wanted to touch Gail in places that friends shouldn’t.

 

Eventually Holly got out of the bed without waking Gail and went to the bathroom to take a long shower. After cleansing herself of dirt, grime, and dirty thoughts, Holly braided her wet hair down one side and went to the kitchen to start breakfast.

 

There were seven cinnamon, vanilla pancakes on the plate when Holly heard Gail groan, “This bed is awful.”

 

Holly smiled. It was such a Gail thing to say first thing in the morning. Holly flipped a pancake over and called into the living room, “Good morning to you too, Sunshine.”

 

“Holly, this bed is like a piece of wood,” Gail sat up and rubbed her back, “You need like fifty pillows and seventy blankets to make this something prisoners get to sleep on.”

 

Holly moved to the kitchen doorway and looked at Gail, “It’s not that bad.”

 

Gail grumbled all the way to the bathroom and Holly just shook her head. She poured Gail some coffee and placed it in front of  Gail’s barstool at the pass-through. Then she put a healthy stack of pancakes on a plate and put them next to the coffee.

 

It wasn’t two minutes later that Gail plopped down in the chair, used to the routine by then. She took a sip of the coffee that was already made how she liked it and looked at her gourmet breakfast of the day. Gail looked up at Holly, “Did you already eat?”

 

Holly shook her head, “Not yet.”

 

Gail picked up her fork and gestured to the barstool next to her, “Eat with me.”

 

It wasn’t really an order, but it wasn’t really a request. Holly slid the leftover pancakes to the empty barstool and walked with her tea to the seat.

 

“You know,” Gail swiveled toward Holly and leaned on the counter, “I learned something over the past few months.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Holly asked, cutting up her pancakes.

 

“Yeah,” Gail rested her cheek on her fist and smiled at Holly, “Do you want to know what it is?”

 

Holly chuckled, “Yeah. Please tell me.”

 

Gail grew serious and stated, “I learned that I can take care of myself. I don’t need to live with anyone or ride with anyone. I don’t need to rely on my parents because I’m good at my job. It was scary at first, you know. But I can take care of myself.”

 

Holly nodded, “I knew that.” Holly smiled proudly over at Gail.

 

Gail smiled back. Then she poked Holly’s arm, “But you know sometimes it’s okay to have some help.”

 

Holly shook her head and eyed Gail, “You’re not turning your growth into some life lesson for me.”

 

“Oh yes I am,” Gail leaned closer to Holly and poked her side multiple times causing Holly to shrink away, “This is the first time I’ve ever gotten to do this so you’re going to listen.”

 

Holly put her fork down and turned to Gail, “Fine.” She sat there listening, waiting for Gail to expel vast amounts of knowledge on her.

 

Gail just narrowed her eyes at Holly, “I already said it. It’s okay to accept some help when you need it. I know you’re like a lone wolf or whatever, but you can….you can accept help. That’s it Moral of the story.” Holly started laughing at the jumbled delivery and Gail couldn’t help, but laugh as well. Gail pushed Holly, “You’re ruining this.”

 

“Sorry,” Holly waved her hand, “I get what you’re saying. It’s just hard for me.”

 

Gail nodded, “I know, but you can do it.” Gail took a bite of her pancake and added, “Starting with shopping.”

 

Holly inhaled. She had seen Gail grow more than she ever imagined in the past few months and she figured that it was her turn, “Alright. Let’s go shopping.”

 

Gail fist pumped, “For weapons!” When she saw the look of confused amusement on Holly’s face she added, “And shoes.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Alright,” Gail crossed her arms and kicked at the floor in front of the dressing room door. “C’mon Holly. I wanna see.”

 

“I don’t know,” Holly looked at herself in the mirror.

 

“Holly,” Gail whined, “I am mentally prepared for how amazing you’re going to look. Just show me.”

 

Holly finally unlocked the door and stepped out of the dressing room. She was wearing a tight, sequined cocktail dress that Gail had picked out for her. It definitely wasn’t something that Holly would have picked for herself. It was really bold and bright red in direct contrast of the earth tones that Holly usually wore.

 

Gail looked Holly up and down, her jaw moving up and down with words she couldn’t quite spit out. She swallowed and saw the look of self-consciousness on Holly’s face. Gail smiled, “You look incredible.”

 

“Really?” Holly looked down at herself.

 

“Oh yeah,” Gail took Holly’s hand and twirled her around. “You look amazing.”

 

Holly walked to the large mirror at the end of the dressing room. She looked at herself. It definitely wasn’t her style, but there was definitely flattering.

 

“We’re going to buy it,” Gail stated.

 

“I don’t have anywhere to wear it,” Holly shrugged. And truth be told, she didn’t want to spend Gail’s money on something only for herself.

 

Gail smiled slyly, “Surprise, we’re going to Traci’s birthday party on Friday.”

 

Holly looked in the mirror at Gail who was standing behind her. She questioningly tilted her head.

 

Gail couldn’t contain a giddy smile, “Plus one forever. You promised.”

 

Despite being ambushed, Holly couldn’t be mad at Gail. She just smiled in acquiescence and turned around, “Fine.”

 

Gail grinned in a self-satisfactory revelry. She won. And she won in more ways than one as she watched Holly walk away in the form fitting dress.

 

At lunch, Holly was tapping away at her phone while Gail pushed around her salad while she was waiting for the main course. Gail finally asked, “What are you doing?”

 

Holly looked up like she got caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to. Being a cop, suspicious behavior made her aggessively curious. Gail took the phone out of Holly’s hand and looked at the screen.

 

Gail read the headline of the news story that Holly was looking at, out loud, “Investigation into Medical Examiner’s Officer scandal picks up…” Gail trailed off and looked up at Holly, “How is any of this making you feel any better?”

 

Holly ran a hand through her hair and let it fall back into place, “It’s not. I’m just… I sit in the apartment all day long with absolutely nothing to do. I feel useless and I have so much time to think about things that it’s… I have to know something is happening.”

 

Gail handed Holly her phone back and sighed. She picked up her fork again and swirled it around her bowl, “If it will keep you from reading whatever is on the internet, I will find out what I can today. But this is a huge thing. The investigation has a task force now. They’ve hired pathologists from Vancouver to come in and go over everything, not just on the Distillery District cases, but all the cases from the past year.”

 

Holly nodded slowly, “I figured they’d have to do something like that.”

 

Gail looked at her plate and wished that she could take the time off to take Holly on vacation while they waited for everything to blow over, but with the loss on Chris to whatever fake extended vacation he was on, 15 couldn’t really spare losing Gail too.

 

“Okay,” Gail looked over at Holly, “What are your hobbies? Writing best selling books about how people die? Making your date look bad at baseball? What else?”

 

Holly smiled and leaned on the table, “I don’t know. Is that weird? I’ve been trying to find something to do and I have no idea what I like to do. The past few years, my life has been all about work and writing articles. I can’t do that anymore so I’m...lost.”

 

“So we go to the hobby store and buy you some,” Gail gestured vaguely, “Model airplanes and knitting needles and puzzles and canvases. We’ll find you something.”

 

Holly smiled and shook her head, “Maybe later.”

 

“Do you like gardening?” Gail asked.

 

Holly shrugged, “I’ve always wanted to try it, but I don’t think there’s enough room on the balcony at our apartment to do anything.”

 

Gail smiled at Holly’s use of ‘our’ when referring to the apartment. Before it was always her apartment, but Holly finally got used to the idea that they lived there together. Gail put her fork down as the main course was arriving, “I actually have somewhere for you to garden.”

 

After lunch, Gail drove them out into the suburbs and stopped in front of her parents’ house. Holly looked questioningly at her, but Gail just smiled and got out of the car. Holly followed, knowing that there was no stopping Gail.

 

They walked around the house, through the side gate and into the backyard. Gail led the way past the side of the house and to the open backyard. She gestured to the back corner where some tilled up spoil was growing weeds. The metal wiring around the area was falling down. It was the only part of the yard that wasn’t perfectly manicured. “My dad started this garden a few years ago.” Gail put her hands on her hips, “He overestimated how much time it would take.”

 

Holly moved toward the area and looked around. It was a substantial size and it definitely needed a lot of work. “Would he be okay with me doing it?”

 

“My mom has been on his ass trying to get him to do something to it,” Gail put her hand on the small of Holly’s back just as a supportive gesture. “If you want to do something with it, both of them would be happy.” Gail pointed to a small storage container next to the stairs the led from the house to the yard, “All the tools are in there. There are probably seeds and soil in there too.”

 

Holly looked over the area and smiled, “Yeah. I think I could do something with this.”

 

Gail was happy that Holly was happy. She rubbed Holly’s back and then dropped her hand, “Good. Do you want to start today or tomorrow?”

 

“There’s no time like the present,” Holly turned to Gail. She pulled Gail into a hug and squeezed her gently. There weren’t enough words to thank Gail for all she was doing.

 

After the hug, Gail looked at her phone, “I have to go into shift soon. I’ll leave the car and have Steve come pick me up on his way in.”

 

“Are you sure?” Holly asked.

 

Gail nodded. “I’ll open the house too so that you can use the bathroom and get something to drink because I’m sure you’re going to get all sweaty and sexy out here.”

 

Holly genuinely smiled and looked over at where the garden was going to go. When Gail started walking toward the house, Holly wanted to stop her. She wanted to take Gail’s hand and turn her around so that she could kiss her. But she didn’t. Holly just stood in the yard and watched Gail walk away wishing that she had half the courage that Gail did.


	6. Chapter 6

Holly was still pulling the metal wiring out of the ground when the heard the back door open. She looked up and saw Elaine Peck walking out of the house with a glass of water.

 

“Thank you so much for doing this for us,” Elaine said when she got close enough to talk to Holly. She offered her the water, “It’s one less thing for me to worry about.”

 

Holly took the water, “Thank you.” She took a sip and looked at the future garden that was almost free of the rusty wire. “I’m glad to have something to do.”

 

“Tom told us what happened to you,” Elaine continued to look out at the garden while Holly drank the water, “It’s awful and I promise you that it will be rectified as quickly as possible.”

 

“Thank you,” Holly replied. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. “I understand it’ll take some time.”

 

“And in that time,” Elaine touched Holly’s elbow, “If you need anything please let me know.”

 

“You and Bill have already done too much for me,” Holly turned toward Elaine.

 

Elaine smiled, “It doesn’t feel like we’ve done anything. We rarely go into the basement. That used to be where Steve watched hockey and Gail sulked when she was a teenager. And this garden...you’re really doing more for us.”

 

Holly knew that she wasn’t going to convince anyone in the Peck family that they were doing too much for her so she just told Elaine it was all her pleasure. Elaine excused herself to go start dinner and invited Holly to stay. She actually insisted that Holly have dinner with her and Bill.

 

Holly worked on the garden for a few more hours. The wiring was all pulled out and the weeds were all pulled out. She was covered in sweat and dirt when Elaine started bringing dinner out onto the patio. She set the outdoor patio table and then called Holly over as the sun started to set.

 

Bill appeared at the back door and joined the women at the table.

 

Bill looked from the table to the garden, “You’re making me look bad, Dr. Stewart.”

 

Something about Bill using her formal title made Holly a little nauseous so she added, “Please, call me Holly.”

 

“I believe that you’ve gotten more work done out there in a few hours than Bill has in the past five years,” Elaine elaborated.

 

Holly smiled. “It’s actually really nice to work outside.”

 

“No many windows in the morgue?” Bill asked.

 

Holly shook her head, “None at all.”

 

Luckily, Bill sensed Holly’s discomfort in talking about her job - former job - and changed the subject. “What are you going to plant?”

 

Dinner went by pleasantly. They all finished up as the sun sunk below the privacy fence. Holly thanked Elaine and Bill for dinner and promised to be back the next day to continue the work.

 

As she drove home, Holly looked at the clock in the car. Gail would get off of shift in two hours so Holly decided to stay up and wait until she got home. Not only was it the polite and practice thing to do since Holly slept a mere four feet away from the front door, but it was a need that Holly had. She needed to be sure that Gail was home before falling asleep. She had to see her one last time so that she knew Gail was in the next room while she fought away all of her doubts in the darkened living room.

 

Holly took a long shower and took her time, putting lotion on her legs and arms. She laid down on Gail’s bed and realized what Gail meant when she said her bed was awful. Gail’s bed was heaven. Holly went to the living room and retrieved her laptop. She went back to Gail’s bed and laid on top of the blankets while she read about gardening techniques specific to their area.

 

Gail walked in a few hours later. She didn’t see Holly immediately so she went to the bedroom and saw Holly reading from her laptop on the bed. Gail smiled, “I see that you have commandeered my bed.”

 

Holly looked up at Gail and smiled. She sat up, “No. I just got out of the shower and fell onto the bed.” She closed her laptop and watched Gail kick off her shoes, “How was shift?”

 

“I arrested a woman who said ‘Jesus Christmas’ when she stubbed her toe on the curb and told me she needed to tinkle when we got back to the station,” Gail dropped her coat on the bed.

 

“What did you arrest her for?” Holly asked.

 

“She killed her husband with a fire poker,” Gail explained. She fell back onto the bed. “Being a cop is so weird.”

 

Holly allowed herself a show of affection and ran her fingers through Gail’s hair. “Perfect job for you.”

 

“Thanks a lot,” Gail shook out her hair that Holly had ruffled.

 

Holly more roughly ruffled Gail’s hair and Gail rolled away from Holly.

 

“Are you hungry?” Holly asked a moment later.

 

Gail shook her head,”I made a rookie buy me a sandwich. If I start talking about buying a cabin, remind me that I might be turning into Oliver and tell me to stop it.” Gail sat up and looked over at Holly. “What did you have for dinner?”

 

“I had dinner with your parents,” Holly laid sideways on the bed. She propped her head up with her hand. “It was really good.”

 

“Oh wow, getting chummy with my parents?” Gail looked down at Holly, “You’re trying to edge me out of the Peck family aren’t you.”

 

“Of course not,” Holly smiled.

 

Gail grinned, “I was just going to ask you to edge me out a little faster.”

 

Holly laughed. Prolonged eye contact with Gail got a little unsettling for Holly so she looked away. Holly sat up and slid off of the bed, “I bet you’re tired.”

 

“I am actually not really,” Gail lied. She just didn’t want Holly to leave the room just yet. “Are you?”

 

Holly shrugged. She could really go either way. “Not really. Did you have something in mind?”

 

“Nightcap on the balcony?” Gail offered.

 

Holly smiled and agreed. “That sounds great.”

 

They met on the balcony. Holly handed Gail a bourbon and took a sip of her own. They sat down on the plastic lawn chairs that Gail stole a few days ago from her parents’ shed. There wasn’t much of a view. Their balcony overlooked a parking lot with a partial view of a park if they leaned over the railing.

 

“I talked to someone on the ME’s Office Task Force,” Gail looked into the dark sky. “It turns out that you’re not the only person that the M.E. asked to forge document or lab results. You’re just the first person to say no.”

 

Holly was stunned. She had been working in a corrupt environment longer than she thought. Holly leaned back in her chair, “Are you serious?”

 

Gail nodded. “This is going to mean a lot of back investigations. He didn’t forge every case, but he forged enough to call a lot of things into question.”

 

Holly set her bourbon down on the ground and rubbed her face, “Are you serious?”

 

“I guess it’s actually looking better for you that you got fired,” Gail sighed.

 

Holly put her foot up on the railing, “They’re going to have to clear out the whole office.”

 

“Yup,” Gail took a sip of her bourbon. “The mayor is pissed. Tom is spearheading the campaign to get the M.E. into jail and the rest of the office is going to be asked to resign.”

 

“I’m going to have to testify if the M.E. wants a trial aren’t I?” Holly picked up her bourbon and took a long drink.

 

Gail nodded. She reached over and took Holly’s free hand. “It may get worse before it gets better.”

 

“I don’t see how that’s possible,” Holly tried to answer lightly, but she wholeheartedly believed it.

 

Again, words betrayed Gail. She couldn’t think of anything to say to make it better so she just held Holly’s hand as they sunk further into night.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Gardening was a double edged sword for Holly. It did keep her hands busy, but it allowed for deep thought for prolonged periods of time. It was day three of her garden project and she was pouring fertilizer on her newly excavated plot of land.

 

Bill had been hovering around in the yard, trimming some hedges and picking up random sticks in the yard. He was trying to give Holly her space, but he also wanted to be around if she needed help. It was the weekend so he was used to doing household things, but he wasn’t used to having someone else doing something. Elaine spent most of the day in her home office and when his kids lived with him, Steve was usually out and Gail was usually asleep until three in the afternoon.

 

After lugging all the fertilizer from the shed to the garden, Holly used a trowel to stab a hole in the side of one of the bags. She drug it along the edge of the garden, evenly spreading the soil with minimal effort.

 

Bill walked over to her and stated. “It’s looking good.”

 

Holly smiled up at him as she emptied out the bag, “Thanks.”

 

Bill wasn’t sure how to handle someone who had such a tight reign on their emotions. Gail told him to keep an eye on Holly while she was on shift because of everything that had happened, but Holly seemed to be holding it together well. “How do you take your sandwiches?”

 

Holly carried the empty bag to the pile of fertilizer bags, “Turkey on wheat.”

 

Bill nodded, “Coming right up.”

 

“Thank you,” Holly called after him. She had learned that telling the Pecks they didn’t have to do something was useless because they were all going to do what they wanted.

 

Bill disappeared into the house. Elaine was in the kitchen getting some water. “We should have a barbeque tonight.”

 

Elaine looked over at her husband, “Feeling social?”

 

He chuckled and started making Holly’s sandwich, “Not really. Just invite the kids and have a nice dinner outside. Enjoy our less ugly backyard.”

 

Elaine looked out the window over the sink and watched Holly take another empty fertilizer bag to the recycling. “She’s a quiet one. I’m not sure how to handle it.”

 

Bill placed lettuce on the sandwich and turned to his wife, looking out the window with her. “She’s definitely the opposite of Gail and Steve. They would have both been holy terrors through this whole thing.” Bill took a deep breath, “Any news?”

 

“Luckily, Holly has been doing most of the autopsies,” Elaine used to glass to gesture out the window at Holly. “The forensic techs have no contact with the Chief M.E. so they’re all clear. Right now we’re looking at the Chief, a latent print examiner, and a lab assistant. We already have half the prison population looking to get their cases overturned.” Elaine shook her head. “It’s a clusterfuck.”

 

Bill put Holly’s sandwich on a plate and cut it in half. He garnished the plate with some grapes. “We’ll all make it out the other side.”

 

“Broken and bruised, but out the other side,” Elaine added, walking out of the kitchen and back to her office.

 

Holly was absolutely ready for a break when Bill called her to the outdoor table. She wiped her forehead with the bottom of her shirt and walked to the table. Bill sat down with her, while she started in on the sandwich.

 

“I see you found something over there,” Bill nodded toward the garden. There was a fertilizer bag laying flat on the ground with tiny bones assembled on it.

 

Holly nodded, “My best guess is that it used to be a hamster.”

 

“Columbo,” Bill nodded, “I wondered where Steve buried him.” Bill smiled at Holly, “I hope you washed your hands. I’m pretty sure Columbo ate himself to death in the garbage.”

 

“I did,” Holly smiled back, “I used the sink in the shed.” Holly took another bite of her food, “However, Columbo had a few broken ribs consistent with post-mortem K-9 bites.”

 

“That is disturbing,” Bill took a deep breath, “And that explains what our dog Friday was playing with a few years ago.”

 

Holly nodded, “That sounds about right.”

 

“You know I had a training officer who said that once you’re a cop, really a cop, you can take the cop out of the job, but you can’t take the job out of the cop,” Bill offered. “I suppose that probably follows true with pathologists.”

 

Holly took a moment to answer, but she nodded, “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed when I didn’t find a nineteenth century murder victim buried in your backyard.”

 

Bill laughed, “Well if you want to keep looking feel free to keep digging around. If you dig deep enough, we’ll just build a pool.”

 

Holly popped a grape into her mouth, “I won’t tear up your yard. I just need to start looking for another job.”

 

“Oh, this whole thing will blow over,” Bill assured her. “It may take a while, but everything will be set right. I promise you.”

 

Holly nodded, but wasn’t sure that anything would be like it was before.

 

After lunch, Holly went back to work. She didn’t get to work uninterrupted for long before she felt herself getting sprayed with water. While she ran away from the source of the spray, she turned around and saw Gail standing next to the shed with the water hose in her hand. “Gail!”

 

Gail laughed heartily and turned off the water. She sauntered over to a slightly more damp Holly and smiled, “You looked a little hot.”

 

“You could have just fanned me,” Holly wiped a drop of water from her hairline.

 

Gail shook her head, “Where’s the fun in that?” She pulled something out of her back pocket and handed it to Holly, “You left this at the party last night. Traci brought it to me before shift.”

 

“Oh great,” Holly took her ring from Gail and slid it on her finger. “I don’t know why it was bugging me all night.”

 

Gail looked at the garden and put her hands on her hips, “So do you need help?”

 

Holly laughed, “If I say yes are you going to stay and help me.”

 

“Not really,” Gail shook her head, “But Steve is on his way over. Maybe he can help you.”

 

“Get out of here,” Holly pushed Gail away.

 

Gail grinned. She was delighted to see Holly after a long day. She had missed just being able to be around Holly when they were apart. She brushed some dirt from Holly’s arm, “My dad wants us to stay for dinner. Are you okay with that?”

 

Holly nodded, “If you want to stay.”

 

Gail pretended to be upset. She huffed, “Fine. I’ll be digging my Super Nintendo out of my closet until dinner.”

 

Holly didn’t mind being left alone  for a while. It was just nice to do something that she knew was going to become something. She continued to get her hands dirty until she decided to stop for the evening.

 

Holly left her water on the outdoor table so she went to go get it when Elaine walked out. Elaine smiled, “I was about to come get you.”

 

“Oh is dinner ready, already?” Holly asked. She hadn’t looked at her phone in hours and had no idea what time it was.

 

Elaine shook her head, “No, but you’ve worked enough for today. You’ve spent almost twelve hours in the sun.”

 

Holly picked up her water, “Oh. I just really enjoy it. But you’re right. I should stop for today.”

 

“Why don’t you go upstairs and take a shower,” Elaine gestured to the back door, “I’m sure Gail still has some of her old clothes upstairs.”

 

“Thank you,” Holly walked up the stairs behind Elaine and kicked off her shoes so she didn’t get mud everywhere.

 

Holly wandered up the stairs and looked in a few of the rooms before she heard Gail cursing at the far end of the hallway. Holly admired the hard wooden floors as she made her way to Gail’s childhood bedroom.

 

Gail was sitting on the floor in front of her TV, playing video games on her antiquated system. Gail called a small animated character an asshole before she noticed Holly.

 

“Hey,” Holly leaned on the door, “Your mom sent me up to take a shower and told me that you may have some clothes for me.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Gail stood up and walked to the closet. She opened the door and looked around, “Um, oh yeah here.” Gail grabbed some things and shoved  them at Holly. Gail gestured to a door on the opposite wall from the closet. “There’s the bathroom.”

 

“You had your own bathroom growing up?” Holly stepped through the room and looked into the bathroom.

 

“Yeah,” Gail sat back down on her bed, “You didn’t?”

 

“I shared one bathroom with eight other people,” Holly stepped into the bathroom.

 

“Oh yeah,” Gail nodded, remembering a few rare stories of Holly’s childhood that Holly had to be extremely tired or slightly drunk to tell. “Foster kid.”

 

“Towels?” Holly asked, in the bathroom.

 

Gail ran across the hallway and stole one from the guest room. She walked straight into her bathroom and caught sight of Holly stripping off her shirt. Her dirty jeans were already in a pile on the ground. Gail forgot all sense of speech when she saw Holly’s slightly dirty, almost naked body stretch out completely to pull her shirt over her head.

 

Holly adjusted her glasses after dropping her dirty shirt on the ground. She took the towel from Gail, “Thanks.”

 

Gail cleared her throat and nodded, “No problem.”

 

Holly caught Gail leering, but waited to smile until Gail ducked out and closed the door. Holly turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm before completely disrobing and stepping into it.

 

Gail sat down on the bed and ran her hands over her face. She fell backwards and gathered herself. It only took a moment before Gail rolled over and grabbed her video game, starting to play again as she actively tried to ignore the deliciously naked woman on the other side of the bathroom door.


	8. Chapter 8

Holly stepped out of the bathroom wearing a 2010 Metropolitan Police Charity 10K t-shirt and jeans with holes up and down each leg. Gail looked over at her with a smile, “You look hot.”

 

“I’m guessing this outfit was college Gail.” Holly gestured to herself.

 

Gail nodded, “Definitely.”

 

“Well,” Holly looked at the armful of dirt and sweat covered clothes under her arm, “I’m going to go throw these in the car.”

 

“I’ll just wash them,” Gail stood up. She took the clothes from Holly and moved to the door.

 

“Is it okay if I just hang out in here for a minute?” Holly asked, staying in her spot.

 

Gail turned around in the doorway to her room, “Yeah of course. I’ll be right back up.”

 

Holly laid down on the bed as Gail went down the stairs. Even Gail’s old bed was more comfortable than the pull out couch she’d been sleeping on. But Holly wasn’t going to complain. She was living rent free. She didn’t pay for anything. She hated the feeling of being dependant, but she wasn’t going to complain.

 

Holly crawled up the bed and put her head on a pillow. She looked past the foot of the bed at the TV. When Gail appeared in the doorway, Holly asked, “Street Fighter?”

 

Gail smiled and made her way toward the bed. She turned the TV off on her way and then laid down next to Holly, “Yeah. I used to kick Steve’s ass all over the place on that thing.”

 

Holly sighed into the mattress and looked over at Gail, their heads on two different pillows. “I’m so exhausted. I didn’t realize how much energy I didn’t have until right now.”

 

“Do you want to just go home?” Gail asked softly. Her eyes traveled the length of  Holly’s forearm because she wanted to hold Holly’s hand, but she wasn’t sure she could.

 

Holly shook her head, “Your parents are already making dinner. It would be rude.”

 

“They would understand,” Gail gestured to the door, “You’ve been working outside in their yard all day.”

 

“I want to eat my weight in whatever that wonderful smelling thing is and then go home,” Holly closed her eyes and sighed softly. “I found and reconstructed Columbo in the back yard.”

 

“Ew gross. Steve’s hamster?” Gail rolled onto her back and looked at the ceiling.

 

“Yeah,” Holly answered, “Your dog Friday found him after he’d been dead for a few years. Then Friday buried him again.”

 

Gail smiled softly, loving that Holly was getting to do at least some kind of investigative work even though it was just reconstructing a decomposed hamster. She looked over at Holly. “You’re such a nerd.”

 

Holly opened her eyes slightly and smiled back at Gail, “I know.”

 

Their faces were close enough that it would only take half a second for Gail to kiss Holly. And she wanted to desperately. But she knew that Holly needed time and space. She didn’t want to complicate things and she didn’t want to upset Holly. She just wanted Holly to be happy.

 

So Gail sat up, mumbling something about having to pee. She locked herself in the bathroom while Holly laid on the bed. She was having much the same thought about Gail and not wanting more complication at the moment. Holly sighed deeply and got out of the bed. She was feeling the need to start moving again so she made her way downstairs to see if Elaine and Bill needed help.

 

Gail found that Holly was gone when she was done pretending to pee. She sighed and shuffled out of her room. She really felt that she needed to get her shit together or she was going to lose Holly again.

 

Steve, Traci, and Leo arrived right on time. Dinner was polite and casual. Elaine and Bill’s rapid fire career questions were absent from the conversation. They also avoided the subject of the Medical Examiner’s investigation. The focus was mostly on the garden in the backyard and local news that didn’t involve crime.

 

As the mass of people walked out the front door to go back home, Steve commented, “That was relatively painless.”

 

“Yeah, they’re taking a liking to Holly,” Gail stated.She smiled at Holly when the doctor looked back at her.

 

“Because that garden was a mess,” Steve put his hands in his pockets, “And now it looks like a garden.”

 

“I just needed something to do,” Holly shrugged with her muddy shoes in her hand.

 

Traci put her arm around Holly’s back, “I wish you were back at work already. Everything is a mess.”

 

“Yeah,” Steve added as they all stopped at the curb next to their cars, “I’m pretty sure the guy from Vancouver performed the first ever autopsy.”

 

Holly smiled at their attempts to try to make her feel better.

 

“She’ll be back soon,” Gail answered them for Holly who didn’t quite know what to say.

 

“We should go out again soon,” Traci hugged Holly, “Last night was fun.”

 

Holly smiled genuinely, “Yes it was.”

 

Gail and Holly said goodbye to Leo and Steve as well before getting into Holly’s car. Gail drove because Holly was exhausted.

 

This time, Gail didn’t hesitate to take Holly’s hand. She threaded her fingers with Holly’s in the dark of the car. She knew nighttime was harder on Holly because there was nothing to distract Holly. When she felt Holly’s thumb stroke up and down her own thumb and down the side of her hand, Gail knew that she did the right thing.

 

Holly was leaning on the car door, but still felt close to Gail with their hands joined together. Holly watched a red light fill the car as Gail slowed to a stop at an intersection. “I love you.”

 

Gail was initially stunned by the confession although she knew it was true. Before the light turned green, in the silence of the car Gail echoed, “I love you too.”

 

When they got back to the apartment, Holly was slow to move. She wasn’t sure if it was physical exhaustion or emotional, but she was feeling completely raw.

 

Gail locked the door behind them and watched Holly started to move the pillows off the couch in her nightly routine of pulling out her bed. Gail stood behind Holly and shook her head. Then she stopped Holly’s hand from moving the last pillow off of the couch.

 

Gail gently took the pillow from Holly and replaced the pillow with her free hand. She held Holly’s hand, leading her into the bedroom. Before they got to the bed, Gail kicked the bedroom door closed. She turned Holly around and slipped her arms around Holly’s waist. She felt Holly’s arms constrict around her shoulders and Holly’s face bury itself in her neck.

 

“Sleep with me tonight,” Gail whispered.

 

Holly knew that she needed it. She needed a decent bed and more than that, she needed Gail. Holly nodded into Gail’s shoulder.

 

Gail broke away from Holly to position the haphazard pillows and blankets into an arrangement that could be shared. Holly ducked into the bathroom and returned to stand next to the bed. When Gail had changed, she saw Holly just looking at the bed. She walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around Holly. She softly whispered into Holly’s ear, “What can I do?”

 

Holly swallowed. Somehow all thoughts seemed to have left her mind. She inhaled and exhaled, but couldn’t get out much else. She just shook her head, “I need - I need to change.”

 

That was something Gail could help with. Gail gently turned Holly around. She gathered the bottom of the t-shirt Holly was wearing in her hands and slowly pulled it up Holly’s torso and over her head. Holly’s hair fell back around her shoulders, modestly covering the sunkissed skin below it. Then Gail’s hands moved to the jeans that hung low on Holly’s hips. She unbuttoned and unzipped them easily, letting them fall to the ground.

 

Gail held Holly’s hands as Holly stepped out of the jeans. Then she lifted the blanket so that Holly could slip under it. Once Holly was safely in the bed, Gail checked that the front door was locked. Then she returned to the bedroom and closed the bedroom door.

 

Holly had moved to the center of the bed and Gail just stood over the bed for a moment trying to figure out what exactly she needed to do to help Holly process whatever was going on. Gail became frustrated with herself for not knowing what to do.

 

However, Holly went into motion. She removed her glasses and held them up in the air. Gail took the glasses and placed them on the nightstand. Then Gail turned off the light. She slipped into bed behind Holly and held Holly as close to herself as possible. She tenderly kissed the back of Holly’s shoulder and felt Holly’s warm skin pressed against her clothes.

 

After a minute, Holly rolled over so that she could face Gail. She felt more protected that way although she knew that her danger was not a physical one. She felt Gail’s hands press against her back. It was a gesture so intimate that it made Holly warm all over. Kissing Gail was great. Having sex with Gail was great, but there was something so intimate about being almost naked in front of someone and just being held.

 

Holly slid her hands under Gail’s shirt and just rested one of her hands on Gail’s side, just to feel her skin. Gail tucked Holly’s head under her chin and kissed the top of Holly’s head. She looked helplessly in the dark wishing she could do something - anything - to help Holly.


	9. Chapter 9

Holly’s phone was what woke them up. Holly was the first one awake and searching in the morning light coming in the windows for it. She followed the ring to the jeans she had on the night before that were on the ground.

 

The ringing stopped before she could answer it and as soon as she unlocked her phone to see who it was, her phone died. Holly sighed and stood up, taking a moment to stretch. She had slept so well on the bed with Gail.

 

Speaking of Gail, Holly turned around to see Gail looking up at her with half of her face pressed into the pillow. Gail’s hair was sticking up in multiple places and she tiredly asked, “Who is it?”

 

“No idea,” Holly held up her phone, “It died.”

 

Gail pulled the covered up over her shoulder, “There’s a charger behind the nightstand. Come back to bed.”

 

Holly watched Gail’s eyes slide closed against, but knew she wasn’t asleep. Holly plugged her phone in and shimmied back under the covered. Gail pulled Holly to her with one arm and Holly giggled. Although it was morning, Gail’s least favorite time of the day, she smiled against her pillow because of Holly’s giggle.

 

Holly turned her phone back on and waited for it to boot up. She left it on the nightstand and rolled toward Gail. This time, she got her arms around Gail who snuggled into her chest. Holly ran her fingers through Gail’s hair, “You’re never going to get rid of this cowlick.” Holly massaged the area with her fingers briefly before resuming, running her fingers through Gail’s hair.

 

Gail just hummed in contentment.

 

When Holly’s phone dinged with a notification, she rolled onto her back to pick it up off of the nightstand. Gail took the opportunity to rest her head on Holly’s shoulder and her leg almost up around Holly’s waist. She had a firm grip on the middle of Holly’s torso as Holly looked at the notification.

 

Holly didn’t recognize the number of the missed call, but she saw a voicemail notification pop up. She called her voicemail, put in her pin, and listened.

 

It was silent in the room so Gail could hear the voicemail. Tom was asking Holly to come into the administration building to talk about the investigation. He didn’t give any other hints as to what it could be about specifically. He just left his phone number and asked Holly to call him back at her earliest convenience.

 

Gail sat up and propped up head with her hand, “That’s weird.”

 

Holly nodded. She wasn’t upset that Gail could hear the voicemail. She was actually a little relieved that she didn’t have to explain it. “Looks like I’ll have to take a little break from gardening today.”

 

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Gail asked sitting up while Holly stood out of the bed.

 

“You have shift at two,” Holly offhandedly replied. She pulled on her shirt from the night before and walked to the bedroom door. She realized that she was starting to get upset again that she need to start doing something. That something was going to be making breakfast. “I’ll be fine.” Holly walked out of the bedroom like her brain was a million miles away.

 

Gail flopped back onto the bed and sighed. She was sure that she was getting through to Holly. She was sure that Holly was going down the road to being Holly again. And with one voicemail, Gail was sure that she lost Holly all over again.

 

“Get dressed,” Gail called from the bed, “We’re going out to breakfast.”

 

She heard the commotion in the kitchen stop. She stood up and went to the bedroom door. Holly was standing in the middle of the kitchen with her head bowed. Her hair was hiding her face so that Gail couldn’t see her expression.

 

Finally, Holly ran her hand through her hair as she leveled her chin. Holly put the pots back into the cabinets and spotted Gail. She gave Gail a surrendering smile, “I know what you’re doing.”

 

“I’m taking you out to breakfast,” Gail leaned on the doorframe as Holly brushed past her to get to the closet.

 

Holly rolled her eyes, knowing that Gail had a point. Cooking and gardening were her escapes. Holly needed to get back into real world mode.

 

Holly was silent all the way to the restaurant. The first words she said since Gail insisted they go out to breakfast was “coffee” and “eggs florentine”.

 

After the waiter walked off, Gail leaned on the table, “When I was eight, my brother, the wonderful person that he is, decided that I could learn how to sled by myself in the summer by putting cardboard on the bottom of his sled and putting me at the top of the stairs.” She looked around and then found Holly’s eyes again, “I made it down the stairs twice before I lost control of the sled and tumbled down the stairs.” Gail looked up when the waiter put their drinks down and left. Then she continued speaking, “Steve told our parents that it was my idea and that my broken arm was my fault.” Gail, then, sat back in her seat and picked up her coffee.

 

Holly quirked an eyebrow, “Is that the whole story?”

 

Gail nodded, “Yeah.”

 

“Why did you tell me that?” Holly was waiting for some kind of moral at the end of the story.

 

Gail shrugged, “I don’t know. I just remembered that. Steve’s a jerk.”

 

Holly started laughing and dropped her face into her hands. When she looked up, she saw a sly smile on Gail’s face and knew that that was really the purpose of the story. Gail was trying to make her laugh.

 

“Thank you,” Holly smiled when she caught her breath.

 

Gail just smiled and shook her head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Holly gazed adoringly across the table at Gail. She wouldn’t say that Gail had changed in the time that they were apart, but Gail had definitely grown. It was almost astounding how quickly it happened.

 

“Now you’re freaking me out,” Gail leaned back and looked back at Holly.

 

Holly smiled, “You’re incredible.”

 

Gail wasn’t expecting that and immediately blushed, “I - I’m not…” When Holly started chuckling, Gail rolled her eyes, “Shut up.”

 

“I can see why suspects are intimidated by you,” Holly picked up her coffee, “It’s your sharp articulation isn’t it?”

 

Gail just glared at Holly, but was unable to sustain the look because Holly smiled so brightly at her. The only thing that she could think was that she loved Holly. It was a warm feeling in her chest when she just looked at Holly. It wasn’t a new feeling because she had always felt like that around Holly, but it was different now. Somehow it was deeper. She loved Holly in a way she’d never loved anyone else.

 

Gail put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand. “You have pretty eyes.”

 

Holly blinked and took her turn to blush, “Really?”

 

Gail nodded. “They look...I don’t know - smart? Pensive?”

 

Holly smiled, “Why thank you.”

 

When their breakfast arrived, Holly forgot all about the appointment that she had scheduled with Tom. She was lost in conversation with Gail. All her worries were put on hold because the woman in front of her knew how to distract her like no one else.

 

However, like all good things, breakfast had to come to an end. Gail paid and followed Holly out to the car. The plan was to drop Holly at the administration building and then go work out at 15 Division until Holly called her. And by working out, Gail was going to run a few miles on the treadmill and then bug Steve until Holly called.

 

Holly sat in the car staring at the administration building while Gail watched her. Holly licked her lips and turned back to Gail, “Do you think it’s just an inquiry? Is it an interview? Or...are they going to indict me?”

 

“Of course not,” Gail shook her head, “You’re pretty much the only one that didn’t do anything wrong.”

 

Holly nodded, “Right.” She took a deep breath and decided to just get it over with. She opened the door and unbuckled her seatbelt. “I’ll - I’ll call you.”

 

“Okay,” Gail called after her. When Holly got out and closed the door, Gail added quietly, “Good luck.”


	10. Chapter 10

Gail leaned back in the chair in the detective’s office. She wasn’t in her uniform yet. She was just hanging out. Gail looked across the desk at her brother who was actually waiting for a phone call, “So you don’t know anything about this task force or what Tom wants with Holly?”

 

Steve shook his head, “Tom made sure that I didn’t have anything to do with this investigation because of your relationship with Holly. He didn’t want to drag Holly down to a place where someone could say that she was getting special treatment. You know how these things work.”

 

Gail leaned farther back in the chair and started swiveling. “This is awful.”

 

“No one is after Holly,” Steve assured Gail.

 

“They’re going to have appoint a new M.E. right?” Gail asked, looking at the ceiling. “The mayor is just going to appoint a new one?”

 

Steve nodded. “Yup.”

 

“Do you think the new one is going to let Holly have her job back?” Gail twirled a pen in her fingers, “Of course they would. They’d be an idiot not to.”

 

“I bet you’re freaking out more than Holly,” Steve leaned on his desk. “Holly is the best pathologist I’ve ever met and she will land on her feet no matter where it is.”

 

“But I don’t want her to land anywhere else,” Gail confessed a soft exhale.

 

Steve looked sympathetically over at his sister. “Everything will work out. It always does.”

 

Gail ran her hands over her face and cursed.

 

When her phone rang, Gail nearly fell out of her chair. She quickly picked it up and answered, “Hey.”

 

“Hey,” Holly answered. She sounded tired, “I’m ready when you are.”

 

Gail stood up out of her chair, “I’ll be right there.”

 

Gail had trouble not speeding to pick up Holly. She wanted to know what happened. She wanted to know what Tom said. When she pulled up to the administration building, she saw Holly standing by the front doors with her arms wrapped around herself.

 

Holly walked to the car when she spotted it and got in. She didn’t say anything immediately. Holly sat quietly while Gail waited for her to say something.

 

“Can you take me to your parents’ house?” Holly asked.

 

Gail nodded, “Yeah.” She sighed and pulled away from the curb.

 

Holly ran a hand through her hair, “Tom just wanted me to look over some case files for him and make sure they were all still good. The pathologists from Vancouver already went over them, but he wanted my opinion.”

 

“So that was a good thing?” Gail asked, merging into traffic.

 

Holly shrugged, “I don’t think it was good or bad.” She looked out the window, “I mean, he didn’t tell me anything about the investigation. He just wanted me to explain some things.” Holly looked over at Gail and put on a smile. She poked Gail’s arm, “How was working out?”

 

Gail shrugged, “I did a few kilometers. Nothing big. Then I hung out with Steve.”

 

“Maybe exercise can be one of my things,” Holly offered, “I haven’t gone to the gym in a while.” Then Holly put her face in her hands, “Oh my god, I cook. I bake. I garden. I’m going to start going to the gym. I’m a housewife.”

 

Gail started laughing at Holly’s actual panic.

 

“This is my worst nightmare,” Holly hit Gail in the arm. “It’s not funny.” Although she was losing her panic and taking on a slight annoyance at Gail’s humor.

 

“You’re not a housewife,” Gail tried to calm Holly down, “First of all, you’re not married. Secondly, we live in an apartment, not a house. Third, you excavated my brother’s dead hamster and reassembled it’s bones. You’re just a bored nerd.”

 

Holly laughed at Gail’s description of her, “Thanks. You really know how to make me feel better.” It was true although Holly said it sarcastically.

 

After they drove in silence for a little while longer, Holly added, “I really have to start looking for another job, temporary or not.”

 

Gail knew that telling Holly that she didn’t have to was useless. Holly was fiercely independent and self-sufficient. She wanted to do things for herself. Gail just wanted Holly to slow down. “Maybe you could just...relax for a week. Let the investigation run it’s course and you can do whatever you want after that.”

 

“Gail,” Holly tilted her head.

 

“I know you want to be on your own and stop sleeping on the couch,” Gail explained as she pulled to a stop outside of her parents’ house. “I get that. I’m just worried that… I don’t want you to get stuck in a job you don’t love.”

 

“I had a job that I loved,” Holly looked over at Gail.

 

“I know,” Gail turned toward Holly and held her eyes, “But where are you going to go to get another job like that?”

 

Holly took a deep breath, “I’d have to leave the area.”

 

Gail swallowed, “Do you want to leave?”

 

“I don’t,” Holly shook her head. Her eyes dropped to the console between them. “I don’t want to move away. I love it here. My friends are here.” Holly swallowed and finally looked back at Gail, “You’re here.”

 

“Then just wait out the investigation,” Gail almost begged. “Just take some time to relax. Bake and garden and be a housewife.” Gail smiled, trying to get Holly to smile, “Live a life of leisure because you have never relaxed in your life.”

 

Holly scratched the back of her neck, “I don’t suppose I could get a job until I’ve been officially cleared anyway.”

 

“See?” Gail grinned, “Bureaucracy at its finest. They’re basically forcing you to take a vacation.”

 

“How kind of them,” Holly sardonically replied.

 

Gail narrowed her eyes at Holly, “Get out of my car and go garden.”

 

“Technically it’s my car,” Holly opened the door.

 

Gail pretended to push Holly out of the car, “Pot-aye-to, pot-ah-to. Get out. Grow me some flowers for having to put up with you.”

 

“You’re a jerk,” Holly got out of the car and bent down to look at Gail, “A beautiful jerk.”

 

“It’s my niche,” Gail grinned. Then her grin softened to a caring smile. “Be careful. Call me if you need anything.”

 

“You too,” Holly smiled back before closing the door and walking to the backyard gate. Gail watched Holly open the gate and then step through. She looked at the clock and saw that she had a few hours before work.

 

Gail turned off the car and got out. She made her way around the house, into the backyard, and crossed the backyard to get to Holly who was in the shed, getting out her tools.

 

When Holly turned around, the sight of someone standing behind her scared her enough to drop a shovel, “Jesus, Gail.”

 

Gail bent down and picked it up, “Hi.” She turned around and started walking to the garden.

 

“Hi,” Holly followed her, “What are you doing?”

 

“I have some time, so I’m going to help,” Gail stated. She looked around at all the dirt and knew that she had no idea what came next. “So, we plant stuff now?”

 

“Not yet,” Holly smiled. “We have to build a fence around it.”

 

“Oh,” Gail nodded like it was obvious and not daunting at all.

 

“You don’t have to help,” Holly offered. She stood next to Gail and put her hand on her back. Once the contact was felt, Holly dropped her hand, not wanting to prolong it into a more intimate space.

 

Gail inhaled and looked at Holly, “I want to.”

 

“Okay then,” Holly smiled, delighted that Gail was actually going to help - or try to help.

 

The entire time, when Gail wanted to complain, she bit her tongue. She worked as hard as Holly did and didn’t say anything. Gail just continued thinking about how close she and Holly were to breaking through and how today all of that seemed to just slip away. She wanted to be near Holly. She hoped that being near her physically could translate to being near her emotionally.

 

However, as Holly toiled she didn’t say much. She was focused on the dirt in her hands and the plants that would eventually come out of this garden.

 

After the first metal post was in the ground, Gail sat down in the grass. Holly looked down at her with a smile, “Tired already?”

 

Gail laid down and closed her eyes, “Of course not.”

 

Holly grinned. She sat down next to Gail and then laid down on her back as well. She looked at the sky for a while before saying, “You’re right.”

 

“Well of course,” Gail answered immediately. Then she asked, “About what?”

 

Holly laughed and pushed Gail. The blonde didn’t move far. She just turned her head and smiled at Holly.

 

“You’re right about waiting for the investigation to be over,” Holly inhaled deeply. “Even if I wanted a job somewhere else, I probably wouldn’t be able to get one while my office is under investigation anyway.”

 

“See? Vacation,” Gail turned her head toward Holly, “My parents have a cabin in some woods somewhere. We could go there for a few days.”

 

“Oh yes, a cabin in some woods somewhere is my dream vacation,” Holly tucked some hair behind her ear.

 

Gail sat up and looked down at Holly, “You’re a jerk.”

 

Holly just smiled up at Gail in a response. Gail rolled her eyes at herself for not at all being able to be mad at Holly. Gail looked at their one post in the ground and saw how much more there was to go. “Why don’t you go see a movie or something?”

 

“I like it outside,” Holly answered, “Maybe I’ll go see a movie tomorrow.” She offered Gail a thankful smile, “Thank you so much. For everything.”

 

Gail didn’t really know what to say to that. It was rare that someone thanked her for anything. She shook her head, “It’s really not a problem.”

 

Holly sat up and touched Gail’s face, bringing their foreheads together. Gail felt her heart start to speed up. She had wanted a touch like this, a touch this intimate from Holly for a long time. She felt Holly take a shaky breath.

 

Gail put her hand on Holly’s wrist and opened her eyes. She leaned back a bit to look at Holly’s face. Holly looked absolutely breathless with her eyes closed. Gail took a chance and brought their lips together. It was a sweet, chaste kiss that only lasted a second.

 

“Everything is going to be okay,” Gail whispered to Holly. “No matter what.”

 

Holly’s eyes fluttered open and she looked into Gail’s eyes. She couldn’t really articulate that she was actually starting to feel like no matter what happened she would be okay because she had Gail. Not just because Gail was there for her, but because Gail was fully supporting her on every front, especially emotionally.

 

Gail’s phone beeped in her pocket and she gently touched Holly’s cheek. She quietly explained, “I have to go.”

 

Holly nodded, adjusting her glasses, “Okay.”

 

Gail stole one last kiss trying not to overthink what this new physical intimacy could mean. She stood up and dusted off her jeans. She wanted to tell Holly that she loved her before she left, but she was worried that she was jumping on thin ice with the kisses. So she just left the yard without saying another word.


	11. Chapter 11

Gail called her dad around seven to see if Holly was still at the house. He replied and told her that Holly hadn’t been at the house since he got home. He did add that there was a fence around the garden and it looked like things had gotten planted.

 

Holly didn’t have a car so Gail texted Holly to check on her and hopefully, subtly find out where she was.

 

“How’s Holly?” Nick asked, seeing how Gail had been texting for the past few minutes.

 

Gail shrugged, “She’s alright. She’s working through some things.”

 

“If you two need anything,” Nick offered, leaving a vague opening at the end of the sentence.

 

“Thanks,” Gail nodded. Her phone dinged and Gail opened a text. Holly told Gail that she was fine. Rachel picked her up and they were at dinner with some other people they went to medical school with.

 

Gail told Holly to have fun and that she’d be home around eleven. Holly thanked her a second later and disappeared into the digital abyss.

 

“I don’t want to mess up again,” Gail blurted out into the car.

 

Nick took a moment to absorb the words and looked over at Gail, “Then don’t mess up.”

 

Gail looked out the window and narrowed her eyes. She nodded, “You know that’s the most idiotically brilliant thing you’ve ever said.”

 

“Uh, thanks,” Nick just took it as a compliment. It was probably the best one he was going to get from Gail anytime soon.

 

Shift was fairly uneventful for Gail. Nick ran after a perp through a park, but Gail just moved over to the driver’s seat, drove to the other side of the park, and grabbed the perp by the collar as he ran past her.

 

When she got home, Gail found Holly in the kitchen. The smell of brownies permeated through the apartment. Gail oaned, “Those smell so good.”

 

Holly smiled and looked at Gail through the pass through, “Good. Because I have seventy-two brownies, twelve cupcakes, and a German chocolate cake in the oven.”

 

Gail looked at all the baked goods on the counter and then saw that Holly’s smile was hollow. Gail moved around the pass through, into the kitchen, and stopped Holly from doing whatever she was doing to pull the doctor into her arms. She felt Holly lean into her and drop her head on Gail’s shoulder, “What happened?”

 

Holly drew a trembling breath that Gail could feel. Holly didn’t move from her place in Gail’s arms, “I don’t know. I just - I’ve accepted that everything is going to take some time. I just went out with some people I went to medical school with and realized that Rachel is the only decent friend that I have. I mean I don’t know how I didn’t notice how vapid Lisa is.”

 

“I could have told you that,” Gail gently ran her hands up and down Holly’s back.

 

Holly didn’t move from Gail’s arms when she retorted, “If you would have answered when I called.”

 

Gail held her breath for a moment. She rocked Holly from side to side for a bit and then acquiesced, “You’re right.”

 

“Sorry,” Holly softly replied.

 

“Don’t be sorry,” Gail pulled back to look at Holly’s face, “What I did was shitty and you didn’t deserve that.”

 

Holly put her hands on Gail’s shoulders and ran them up to Gail’s neck, resting them gently on the smooth skin, “Damn straight.”

 

Gail smiled. She glanced behind Holly at the timer on the counter and saw that there were only ten minutes left. “Alright, we are going to go somewhere. You get dressed and I will get whatever is in the oven out of the oven.”

 

“Where are we going?” Holly asked, pushing some of Gail’s errant hairs back into place.

 

Gail let go of Holly before she kissed her again. “We’re going to see your real friends.”

 

After getting ready and getting the cake out of the oven, Holly and Gail went to The Penny. When they walked in, Gail spotted a table of her fellow officers. She grabbed Holly’s hand and pulled her over to the table.

 

Nick got up and grabbed them both chairs and Oliver signaled the bartender for two more drinks. Andy was the first one to ask Holly how she had been doing, but it was more in a general way than a ‘how have you been doing since you got canned and your whole department is under investigation’ way.

 

“Great,” Holly offered. She actually felt better among the officers than she did the doctors.

 

Gail grabbed a nacho off of Dov’s plate. When he tried to swat her hand away she shoved the nacho into her mouth and said with a mouthful, “You better be nice to me. I’m bringing fifty brownies to work tomorrow.”

 

“Ooh brownies,” Andy took a sip of her beer, “What’s the occasion? Is it your birthday?”

 

“The occasion is Martha Stewart over here,” Gail poked Holly’s arm with her elbow. “Our kitchen is covered in baked goods.”

 

“I have a child who would be glad to relieve you of some of those,” Traci smiled.

 

“Please,” Holly looked up when the bartender set hers and Gail’s beer down in front of them, “If I leave them there, Gail will eat them all and then she’ll be hopped on for days.”

 

Gail glared at Holly, but there was no fire behind it. It was purely for show.

 

Oliver looked around the group and lifted his beer, “You know what? Tonight we celebrate. This is the first time that rookies have been together having drinks with me in a long time.” Oliver looked at Holly, “You too. I remember your first day on the job. I was there. You almost dropped your...” Oliver tried to make a cube shape with his hands.

 

Gail took another one of Dov’s nachos and added, “Lunchbox.”

 

“You dropped your lunchbox into a pool of blood,” Oliver put his hand on Holly’s shoulder. “You’ve all grown up so much.” Oliver raised his bottle again, “Mostly Traci, but the rest of you are inching closer.”

 

Everyone laughed and clinked their drinks together in acknowledgment of the toast. Holly smiled brightly and fully because she knew that even though she knew some of them better than others, this group of officers were her friends.

 

Nick and Holly wandered off to find a pool table and Andy, Traci, and Dov went to wait in line for a dart board.

 

Oliver moved to a seat next to Gail and asked, “So how’s Holly? Really?”

 

Gail looked across the bar and saw Holly rearranging the billiard balls in the triangle. “I think it’s extra hard on her because she only really had her job, you know? She doesn’t have any family. Her doctor friends are _awful_. And she loved her job. She worked her ass off to get it.”

 

Oliver nodded, “That’s gotta be rough.”

 

“Do you know anything?” Gail asked, turning to her mentor, “Anything at all? Or do you know anyone who does?”

 

Oliver shook his head, “Nah. It’s really hush-hush you know. They don’t want anything getting out to the media before they’re ready.”

 

“It’s driving Holly crazy,” Gail sighed.

 

Oliver patted Gail’s back, “She’s smart and she’s strong. She just needs the support of her friends and she will get through this.”

 

Gail nodded. She took a sip of her beer, “Right. Friends.”

 

Oliver grinned, “Oh my, my. Officer Peck, do you have a girlfriend again?”

 

“It’s complicated,” Gail put her beer down, “And not regular complicated. It’s really, really complicated.”

 

“Is it worth it?” Oliver asked, although he knew the answer.

 

Gail nodded, “Yeah. It is.” She looked over the bar and saw Holly looking at her. She smiled at Holly and Holly smiled back. Gail turned to Oliver when Holly looked back at Nick, “Definitely worth it.”

 

Oliver knew that was going to be Gail’s answer so he rubbed her back, “Then hang in there, kiddo.”

 

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about something,” Gail rolled her beer in her hands. “Can I talk to Celery?”

 

“Uh, yeah,” Oliver dug out his phone and went through his contacts. He tapped his girlfriend’s name and put the phone to his ear. He rubbed his eyes and perked up when Celery picked up, “Hey Darlin’. Yeah I’m fine. I just have a friend here who wants to talk to you….alright.” Oliver handed the phone to Gail.

 

Gail put the phone to her ear, “Hey, Celery. It’s Gail Peck. I just wanted to see if you could help me with something.”

 

After Gail talked to Celery, Gail gave the phone back. Oliver just smiled at her. He used his phone to point at her, “Holly is, you know, she’s one lucky lady.”

 

Gail rolled her eyes, “Don’t say anything.”

 

“Your secret is safe with me,” Oliver promised.

 

After a few hours of socializing over beer and stories, Holly asked Gail to take her home. Holly smiled all the way out to the car. When they got in, Holly waited for Gail to start the car before saying, “Thank you so much for this.”

 

Gail looked questioningly at Holly, “For what?”

 

“Bringing me out here,” Holly gestured to The Penny behind them. “I needed to unwind a little and usually I’m not really sure how to do that, but everyone in there is...great.”

 

Gail smiled, “Yeah they are.”

 

“But you are the greatest,” Holly sat back in her seat.

 

“I will not argue with that,” Gail put the car in reverse and pulled out of her parking space.


	12. Chapter 12

Holly arrived back at the apartment from grocery shopping the next afternoon. She had spent most of the morning laying in bed, just resting. Since it was Gail’s day off, Holly decided to go get some food and wait to see what Gail wanted to do after she woke up.

 

Holly set the groceries down in the kitchen. She put up the cold things and then everything else. It been awfully quiet in the bedroom so Holly decided to just poke her head in and see if Gail was okay.

 

When she opened the door, the bed was empty, but she could hear the sound of water running. It didn’t really sound like the shower though. Gail stepped out of the bathroom with a lighter in her hand. She smiled when she saw Holly, “So I did something.”

 

Holly stepped farther into the room and looked Gail over, a little frightened of what she might find. “What is it?”

 

Gail gestured to the bathroom, her expression becoming nervous as Holly neared.

 

When Holly looked into the bathroom, she saw that the small pace was lit, only with candles. The small frosted window had been covered up completely so that no light was coming in. The bath was filling up and smelled of lavender and some other spices Holly couldn’t quite identify.

 

Holly looked at Gail, “What is it?”

 

“I thought we’d keep with the theme of you relaxing,” Gail put the lighter on the nightstand and gently put her hands on Holly’s waist, guiding her into the room.

 

Holly inhaled deeply and took everything in. Then she turned to Gail, “This is amazing.”

 

Gail stepped around Holly and turned off the water that was filling up the bath, “You should probably get in before the water gets cold. I’ll be right back.” Gail stepped out of the room and Holly just stood in the space, completely in awe.

 

Then she slowly got undressed. The first step into the water was hot, but in the best way. When she lowered herself completely into the bath, it was like sighing deeply but her whole body was doing it. Every muscle in her body relaxed as soon as it hit the water.

 

Gail opened the bathroom door, but didn’t look in, “Are you in?”

 

Holly looked down at the tinted water that was foggy and obscured by the dim candles, “Yeah. I’m all decent.”

 

“Well I wouldn’t go that far,” Gail stepped into the bathroom with a mug of tea. When she saw Holly smile, she smiled as well. “I told Celery what kind of tea you liked and she made this for you. It’s to help relax you.” Gail walked to the tub and handed it to Holl, “Help you relax or help your sperm count. There was a donut shop across the street and I kinda faded in and out.” That was a straight up lie. Gail listened to every word that Celery said and asked multiple questions making sure that the tea and the bath would both be good for Holly.

 

“I’m great either way,” Holly took a sip of the tea. She looked down at the water and picked up a rose petal that was floating by. “This is really amazing. You didn’t have to do all this.”

 

Gail nodded, “I know.”

 

“Are you going to pull up a chair or are you going to leave me in here to be so relaxed I might drown?” Holly leaned all the way back in the bathtub and set the tea on the edge.

 

Gail looked around. She didn’t really keep chairs in her bathroom. So she sat down on the floor next to the bathtub, against the opposite wall from Holly. “Do you need anything else?”

 

Holly shook her head, “Nope. I am...I’m great.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, “Last night and this right now, I’m lucky if I don’t get so relaxed I fall into a coma.”

 

“I’ll make sure to clean the algae off the sides of the tub when that happens,” Gail put her elbow on the edge of the tub and rested her cheek against her palm. She smiled at Holly even though Holly couldn’t see it. She was glad to be able to help Holly in any way.

 

“You are the best,” Holly inhaled and then exhaled as she opened her eyes.

 

Gail squished her lips to one side and shook her head. She looked at the tile floor, “Nah.”

 

Holly tilted her head to the side. “Gail. You’re a great person.”

 

Gail leaned on the wall of the tub and swirled her finger around the water. “I just want you to be happy, you know?”

 

“I know,” Holly nodded. She took her hand out of the water and crooked her finger so that Gail would come closer to her face.

 

Gail scooted closer and watched Holly pick her hand up out of her water. She took Gail’s hand and pressed their palms together. Gail ran her fingertips the length of Holly’s palm and then flattened her fingers against Holly’s.

 

“I -” Gail stumbled over telling Holly that she loved her. She really did love Holly with all her heart. She looked down at the tiles again.

 

Holly used Gail’s hand to pull her to the edge of the tub where she surprised her with a kiss. It was tender and deep. Gail let go of Holly’s hand and placed her hand on Holly’s jaw. Holly pulled away only slightly and pressed her forehead to Gail’s, “I love you too.”

 

Gail smiled bashfully. She should have known that Holly would know what she started to say. She shook her head, “I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s okay,” Holly shrugged and sunk back into the water.

 

“It’s not though,” Gail explained, “Because I trust you and I tell you things I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone else.” Gail looked from the water in the bath up to Holly’s eyes, “I love you and I should be grown up enough to say it.”

 

Holly put her hand on the edge of the tub again, palm up. Gail took that as a request to hold hands again. Holly ran her thumb over the tops of Gail’s fingers. “Gail,” Holly looked over at Gail, making sure that Gail was looking back when she spoke, “You don’t have to say it all the time. Saying it really doesn’t mean anything if your actions back it up and these past few weeks...I don’t think I’ve ever felt more loved. You have done everything you can when I start freaking out. You have been staunchly respectful of the grey area between us.” Holly gently squeezed Gail’s hand. “You reminded me what having non-judgmental friends is like and that baked goods can cause fights between police officers.”

 

Gail smiled. She wasn’t so great with words so she just looked at Holly. She kissed the back of Holly’s hand. She wanted to ask Holly what they were or what to call what was between them. They were on a thin line between best friends and girlfriends. Sometimes it felt like they never broke up. She would come home to Holly and they would have dinner like nothing was ever wrong between them. And sometimes it felt like just having a roommate.

 

“Whatever happens,” Holly slowly opened her eyes, “I want us to be okay.”

 

“We will,” Gail agreed. She was sure of it.

 

Holly lulled her head over toward Gail. She stroked the back of Gail’s hand. “What are you thinking?” Although she had a good idea of what Gail was thinking about.

 

Gail looked down and then back up at Holly, “Just thinking about us.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Holly asked, like she didn’t already know.

 

Gail smiled knowing that Holly knew. “I was just thinking about what we are now and what we might be after you get your job back and move into a rad loft somewhere else.”

 

“A rad loft huh?” Holly smiled. She dipped down in the water up to her shoulders. “What are we now?”

 

“The two coolest chicks ever,” Gail ventured, trying not to be the first to tell Holly where she wanted them to be.

 

Holly looked up at the ceiling, “I guess I can’t argue with you there.” Holly looked over at Gail, “How come you only call me the coolest chick ever when we’re in the bathtub?”

 

“Technically, I’m not in the bathtub,” Gail put her other hand on top of Holly’s so that she could massage Holly’s hand with both of hers.

 

“That can be fixed,” Holly grinned mischievously.

 

Gail tried to hold a poker face, but it wasn’t really working. The shock was evident. She didn’t expect Holly to be so forward. Especially when Holly was the only naked person in the room.

 

They were quiet for a long while before Gail spoke, “I want to be with you. Again. I know I messed up really bad last time, but…” Gail shook her head. She didn’t really deserve another chance. She knew that hurting Holly like she did was pretty much the worst thing she could do. She just shrugged, giving up a less than stellar argument.

 

“Okay,” Holly ran her fingers up and down Gail’s. “Let’s say we forget about what happened before because it doesn’t matter anymore. It feels like it all happened a lifetime ago.” Holly sunk up to her neck in the water, “A lifetime ago where I had a job and I wasn’t sleeping on a couch.”

 

“You don’t have to sleep on the couch,” Gail stuck her finger in the water to see if it was still warm. While it was in the water, she swirled it around creating ripples in the water. “My bed is perfectly large enough for two and if you don’t want to cuddle, we can put pillows in the middle and make a DMZ.”

 

Holly chuckled, “We don’t need a DMZ. You know I’m a cuddler.”

 

“You are,” Gail nodded. “You’re like a really warm leech.”

 

“Oh wow, a leech?” Holly asked, “You’re a romantic, you know that?”

 

Gail pulled her finger out of the water, “The water’s getting cold.”

 

Holly nodded, “It is.”

 

Gail took her hand out of Holly’s and stood up. She walked to the counter and picked up a towel. She returned to the bathtub and set it on the edge. “I’ll go put the kettle on so that I can make you some more tea. That one is probably cold.”

 

Holly watched Gail walk out of the bathroom. She smiled to herself. The water was getting really chilly so when she got out, she used the towel to warm herself up. As she was leaving the bathroom, Holly was thinking about what clothes she was going to put on. She was thinking her purple plaid pajama pants and a hoodie.

 

Holly opened one of her drawers and pulled out her purple pajama pants. As she pulled them on modestly under her towel, Holly called, “Gail? Do you have a sweatshirt or something I could borrow?”

 

Gail walked into the bedroom and moved right past Holly into the closet, “I have an overabundance of sweatshirts.” Gail pulled down a stack of sweatshirts and went through them. “Um, here.” She pulled out a dark blue hoodie and handed it to Holly.

 

“Thanks,” Holly pulled it on without dropping her towel. Then she pulled the towel out from under the hoodie.

 

Gail took the towel from Holly before she could do anything with it. She walked into the bathroom and hung it up. When she returned to the bedroom, Holly was standing in the same place she was before.

 

“You know, I can do things,” Holly turned toward Gail.

 

Gail just shook her head and walked past Holly into the kitchen when the kettle started whistling. Holly followed her and stood in the kitchen doorway. “I love this whole taking care of me thing, but I think I can start doing things on my own.”

 

Gail poured the water over the tea and then put the kettle back, “Well then carry your tea to the bedroom yourself.”

 

“To the bedroom?” Holly asked, hoping that Gail was hinting as some sort of canoodling.

 

Gail looked up at Holly with a straight face, “Yeah. That’s where you sleep now isn’t it?”

 

“I’m going to bed?” Holly asked, although she walked into the bedroom with her tea, “It’s only five thirty.”

 

“Celery gave me some massage oil,” Gail stepped up behind Holly and followed her into the bedroom. “I’m supposed to rub it into your skin after your bath.”

 

“Gail,” Holly turned around, “You really don’t have to do this.” She stood right in front of the bed.

 

Gail smiled. She kissed Holly quickly and then took the tea out of her hand. After the tea was removed, Gail pushed Holly back on the bed, “Chill out. She said to rub it into your wrists and your legs.”

 

Holly pouted for a moment before Gail sat on the bed with Holly. Gail took the oil out of the nightstand and took Holly’s hand. She pushed up Holly’s sleeve and squeezed some of the oil on it.

 

Holly picked up her tea with her free hand and took a sip. Gail was taking her time rubbing the oil in and when she switched wrists, Holly put the tea down.

 

“Does it feel okay?” Gail asked, pulling Holly’s sleeve down.

 

“It’s great,” Holly watched Gail move down the bed. Gail pushed up one of Holly’s pant legs and started massaging the oil into her skin. Holly watched intently while Gail took her time and moved to the other leg.

 

When she was done, Holly grabbed the front of Gail’s shirt and tugged her up the bed. Holly slid down onto her back as Gail moved over her. Holly didn’t hesitate to pull Gail down into a deep kiss. Gail lowered her body down on top of Holly’s and pushed her hands up under the hoodie Holly was wearing. Holly’s skin was warm. She slid her hands under Holly to the small of her back to pull Holly against her.

 

Holly’s hands ran through Gail’s hair. She pushed up against Gail’s body, missing the feel of Gail pressed against her. She missed the weight of Gail on top of her and she missed the feeling of kissing Gail and not worrying about the consequences.

 

Their making out session was interrupted by a ringing of a cell phone. Gail groaned, “No.”

 

Holly smiled and laughed into Gail’s shoulder. “You should probably get that.”

 

Gail didn’t want to, but she knew that she should. She rolled off of Holly and ran into the kitchen to grab her phone.

 

Holly laid on the bed and listened to the conversation happening in the kitchen with a content smile on her face. “Hello?....Hi Mom….um, yeah she’s here.” Gail appeared in the doorway with the phone to her ear. They shared a confused look while Gail listened. Then Gail addressed Holly, “Can you meet for dinner tomorrow night?”

 

Holly nodded. It seemed like a silly thing to ask because Holly literally had no where to be.

 

“Yeah,” Gail told her mom. “Where?....okay… of course….love you too. Bye.” Gail hung up her phone and leaned on the doorframe. “My mom wants you to go to dinner tomorrow night with her, my dad, Tom, and some other people tomorrow at the French restaurant in the Thompson Hotel tomorrow.”

 

Holly squinted her eyes, “That place is _really_ expensive and I’m not sure I have something to wear.”

 

Gail moved to the closet, “My mom asked you to go so she’s paying. It like a rule.” Gail started moving hangers around, “I can spot you a dress or something.”

 

“Did she say what it was about?” Holly sat up on the bed and moved to the edge of it.

 

“No,” Gail answered. She stepped out of the closet with a purple dress and presented it to Holly, “But she said it was imperative that you went.”

 

“That’s cryptic and frightening,” Holly stood up. She took the dress and looked it over. It was simple with no sequin which wasn’t really something she expected to find in Gail’s closet. “Are you going?”

 

“She didn’t ask me to,” Gail stood in front of Holly with her arms crossed.

 

“Can I ask you to?” Holly asked, looking up from the dress, “Because this is weird and I don’t want to go alone.”

 

Gail nodded, “Yeah. Of course.” She smiled gently trying to reassure Holly who was starting to look like a startled deer. Gail leaned forward and kiss Holly’s lips in a subtle reassurance she would be wherever Holly needed her to be.

 

“We should order food,” Holly sat down on the bed. “And play video games.”

 

“Video games?” Gail perked up. “Can we play Free-For-Shots?”

 

Holly put her hand on her stomach, “I just feel like you like to get me drunk.”

 

“I will admit that is a perk,” Gail moved to the bed and straddled Holly’s hips. “Please?”

 

Holly put her hands on Gail’s upper thighs and smiled up at the blonde, “Sure. Why not?”

 

They pulled out the sofa bed and ordered pizza. They ate pizza, took shots of vodka when they lost, and they both kept constantly changing positions to get a better vantage point. Holly started trying to mess Gail up by slapping the controller out of Gail’s hand, but it never worked enough for Holly to actually win. Gail took some shots with Holly just so Holly wouldn’t be blasted while she was sober.

 

“I quit,” Holly sat on the ground in front of the bed. She grabbed a piece of pizza and took a bite out. “I keep losing. I’m drunk.”

 

“You know what’s sad?” Gail sat on the edge of the bed next to Holly. “You get better when you’re drunk.”

 

Holly took another bite of her pizza. “I have to tell you something.”

 

“Hmm?” Gail leaned over and grabbed a piece of pizza.

 

Holly looked up at Gail. “I think we should have sex.”

 

Gail’s eyes grew wide. “Right now?”

 

Holly finished the piece of pizza and threw the crust back into the box, “We could wait, if you want.”

 

“You’re drunk,” Gail poked Holly in the shoulder.

 

“You’re concern about consent is admirable,” Holly smiled up at Gail. “I love you.”

 

Gail grinned at Holly, knowing that what Holly was saying was probably true. But she didn’t want their romantic relationship to start off on a night of drunken sex. She wanted to remember it and she wanted Holly to as well. Gail dipped down and kissed Holly. “I love you too.”

 

“You know what I want besides sex?” Holly asked, lulling her head back to look up at the ceiling.

 

Gail thought it over and ventured, “Ice cream?”

 

“Pistachio flavored,” Holly grinned, sloppily.

 

“I can’t drive,” Gail laid down on the bed and stretched to pick up her phone that was perched on the arm of the couch. “But, I can have some delivered.”

 

Holly picked up the remote and changed the TV input to the cable box. Then she switched the channel to a sitcom. Gail took that as a signal that they were done playing video games. She put the cap on the vodka and set it on the ground next to the pulled out couch bed.

 

Gail made a few phone calls and found someone to deliver ice cream. Gail looked at Holly who was staring intently at the TV. “Hey.”

 

Holly looked up at Gail. “Hmm?”

 

Gail just smiled and shook her head. Some people were downright revolting when they were drunk, but Holly was just adorable. She wanted ice cream and to watch funny movies. She thought everything was funny and smiled without hindrance. “You’re my favorite drunk.”

 

“Shut up,” Holly pushed Gail’s legs away from her, although they didn’t really go anywhere. “I don’t get drunk when we play Free-For-Shots.” Holly ran a hand through her hair to settle it back into place, “You’re the only person I trust to really get drunk with anyway.”

 

“You’re such a sap,” Gail fell back on the bed.

 

“You’re one to talk,” Holly got up from the floor and crawled onto the bed with Gail. She wrapped herself around Gail and rested her head on Gail’s shoulder.

 

Gail knew she couldn’t argue. She did just personally pamper Holly for two hours after talking to Celery for an hour about what to do to make Holly completely relaxed. Instead of saying something, Gail just held Holly.

 

It was quiet between them with only the sound of laugh tracks sounding through the room. Holly picked a piece of lint off of Gail’s shirt and stated, “I’m worried about tomorrow.”

 

“Why?” Gail rubbed Holly’s back. “People don’t take you to a nice dinner to tell you that you’re never getting your job back. At least my mom doesn’t. She’ll tell you in a full parade room right before you’re about to go onto shift. It’s one of her favorite party stories.”

 

“Did she say who else was going to be there?” Holly asked.

 

Gail shook her head. “No. She just said my parents and Tom. They probably just want to ask you some more questions.”

 

“Why would we be eating dinner at a five star restaurant for some questions?” Holly asked, easily speaking about her fears after losing ten straight video game matches.

 

“Because my mom likes you better than she likes both me and Steve combined,” Gail explained before there was a knock on the door.

 

Holly rolled off of the bed. She took a moment to stabilize herself before walking to the door. When she opened it, she smiled, “Officer Collins.”

 

He smiled back, “Call me Nick.” He lifted up a bag, “I’m here for an ice cream delivery.”

 

“That is for me,” Holly took the bag from Nick and wandered into the kitchen, leaving the front door opened.

 

Gail got off of the bed-couch and met Nick just inside the door, “Thanks for bringing that. You’re the only loser I know that didn’t have plans tonight.”

 

“It’s Wednesday night. What is there to do?” Nick put his hand on his chest and then pointed to Holly, “She’s blitzed.”

 

“She is,” Gail nodded.

 

“Do you two need anything else?” Nick asked, “I know the whole investigation has been rough on the whole M.E.’s office.”

 

Gail shook her head, “Nah. I don’t think so. Tonight is about video games, vodka, and pistachio ice cream.”

 

“For the record,” Nick softly punched Gail in the shoulder, “If you didn’t say the ice cream was for Dr. Stewart, I wouldn’t have come.”

 

“Yes you would have,” Gail went to the end table and opened it. She pulled out a twenty and handed it to Nick, “Now get out.”

 

“You’re welcome, Gail,” Nick smiled. He leaned toward the kitchen and called, “Goodnight Dr. Stewart.”

 

“Thanks Nick!” Holly called back.

 

Nick just smiled at Gail and then walked out.  

 

Gail closed and locked the door. She leaned back on it for a moment and thought about the woman in the kitchen. The very drunk woman in her kitchen that was probably sitting on the counter and eating the ice cream directly out of the carton because as healthy as Holly usually ate, when she junk food, the really went for it.

 

She walked into the kitchen and found Holly is exactly the position she pictured her in.

 

Holly used her spoon to motion to Gail after a bite, “I could be a florist. I took botany as an elective in college.”

 

“Don’t chrysanthemums give you hives?” Gail moved into the kitchen and stood in front of Holly. She took Holly’s spoon and got some ice cream for herself.

 

The doctor nodded, “I could just become addicted to antihistamines.”

 

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Gail handed the spoon back, “What else did you take as an elective in college?”

 

“Intro to Archeology,” Holly smiled. Her eyes got wide, “I could be an archeologist.”

 

Gail smiled and kissed Holly before she took a bite of the ice cream, “Let’s put that one on the back burner. You’re less outdoorsy than me.”

 

“That is untrue,” Holly frowned. She felt Gail lean more into her and put her hand on the side of Gail’s neck. She slide her hand up into the blonde hair and gently massaged the back of Gail’s scalp. She hummed, “I also took forensic anthropology and kayaking. I am outdoorsy. I made an ‘A’ in kayaking.”

 

“I’m pretty sure you already do one of those things and getting a job in kayaking would require some kind of survival skills,” Gail took the spoon back.

 

Holly looked pensive for a moment, looking past Gail’s shoulder and staring off into the distance. “What would you be if you weren’t a cop?”

 

“I -” There was a silence as Gail thought about it. She shook her head and found that Holly was again focused on her, “I have no idea.”

 

“That is exactly my problem,” Holly sighed. “I had no backup plan because I was sure I never needed one.”

 

“I’m sure you don’t need one now,” Gail tried to assure her. She dropped the spoon into the carton and kissed Holly. She took a step back and tucked some hair behind Holly’s ear, “I mean, if you don’t get your job back, you definitely have a promising career as a video game practice dummy.”

 

“God, you’re such a jerk,” Holly pushed Gail away, but almost immediately pulled her back closer. Drinking usually wasn’t Holly’s coping mechanism of choice. It was usually just a social thing that consisted of two or three drinks and then a polite and almost completely sober departure. Holly got clingy and cuddly when she was knee deep in alcohol. Luckily, she was sitting with the one person she trusted in the drunken state and really the only person that she was comfortable being clingy and cuddly with.

 

Gail noticed the 180 in Holly’s mood and went with the tug that was at her shirt. She stood strong for Holly to lean on. The ice cream was set aside and Holly’s head on was her shoulders. Holly’s hands gathered fistfuls of Gail’s shirt between them just over the top of Gail’s pants.

 

“You know,” Holly paused and moved back enough to look at Gail, “I cried for twenty minutes when I remembered that my espresso machine, that I never used, is in your parents’ basement. I used to have a place to put it. I used to be able to pay for a place to put it.” Holly smiled, but it it faltered. “It’s such a stupid thing to cry over. I’m not - I wasn’t a cryer.”

 

“This - these circumstances aren’t normal,” Gail tried to keep Holly from descending to a dark place again. During the past few weeks, she’d seen Holly pretending to be okay and she’d seen Holly actually okay. She’d seen Holly sobbing and she’s seen Holly laughing. It was a tumultuous road of emotions and she knew that above all the tears and the smiles, Holly was tired. She was beaten down and stressed out. For a few glorious hours, Gail was sure that she got Holly to relax and stop thinking about her losses. Maybe she was kidding herself. Maybe a few bath salts, some tea, and a few hours of ice cream was putting a bandaid on the shotgun wound to Holly’s life.

 

Holly put on another fake smile and gently patted Gail’s face. She kissed Gail and slid off of the counter. “I’m going to go to the bathroom.”

 

Gail watched her leave and ran her fingers through her hair, making it stick up everywhere. She put the ice cream up and decided that there really wasn’t anything she could do except being whatever Holly asked of her.

 

“What are you doing?” Holly asked when she emerged from the bathroom. Gail was in the middle of shoving the sofa bed back into the sofa. She looked up from the half folded bed, surprised.

 

“I thought since you hadn’t been sleeping well that you were going to sleep in the bed,” Gail explained, but reversed her motion and pulled the bed back out. “Sorry.”

 

“No,” Holly stepped into the room with her arms crossed, “That’s not what I meant. I mean- it is what I meant, but I ...was planning to sleep in the bed if that’s okay with you.”

 

“Of course,” Gail pushed the bed into the couch all the way with a particularly hard shove. “Whatever you want.”

 

“I don’t want whatever I want,” Holly frowned. She moved more into the room. “I mean,” she gestured with her hands, “What do you want?”

 

“What do you mean?” Gail furrowed her brow in confusion. It was getting a little more difficult to read Holly.

 

Holly rubbed her face in frustration with herself. It was getting to the point where she wasn’t really sure what she was feeling anymore. She moved over to Gail and put her hands on Gail’s hips, “What do you want?”

 

“In the micro sense or the macro sense?” Gail asked, still not too sure what was going on.

 

“This relationship can’t hinge of what I want all the time,” Holly watched Gail’s expression as she spoke, “No matter how sad my life is, it still has to go both ways.”

 

Gail mapped Holly’s face with her eyes once. Then she did it again. She was trying to find where the concern for her feelings was coming from before she realized they were always there. Gail took Holly’s hands off of her hips and used them to pull Holly into the bedroom.

 

Once they were settled into bed, Holly tucked into Gail who was holding her protectively, Holly asked, “Why did you come over? That night after I was fired?”

 

“You love your job,” Gail answered easily, “You light up when you talk about it. I guess I wasn’t sure I really believed it, but if it was true...I wanted to see if you were okay.”

 

Holly tilted her head up and kissed Gail’s cheek, “You’re sweeter than you let on.”

 

Gail made a face that Holly couldn’t see in the dark. “Just don’t tell anyone.”

 

“I love you,” Holly closed her eyes and started the process of turning her brain off. “Always have.”

 

Gail squeezed Holly and smiled, echoing Holly’s sentiments. Before Holly could fall asleep Gail asked, “Why did you agree to move in with me?”

 

“I think I’d been wanting you to ask me to since the day we met,” Holly mused, “Standing over smelly bones in the middle of the forest.”

 

“No way,” Gail shook her head against her pillow.

 

Holly chuckled, “Maybe not then, but… I was happy with you. I figured that I needed all the happy I could get.”

 

“Are you still happy with me?” Gail had to ask.

 

“I’m more than happy. I’m myself, completely,” the doctor sighed into Gail’s shoulder, “I’m safe here with you. No matter where you are, I’m safe with you.”

 

Gail didn’t have any words to answer Holly so she just hugged her tight and reveled in the knowledge that Holly wasn’t with her out of necessity. Holly wanted to be with her and that was enough to send Gail flying into her dreams.


	13. Chapter 13

Gail had completely forgotten that she had to go into work the next morning. Her alarm jerked her out of sleep, but Holly just groaned and rolled over. Gail ran around getting ready as quickly as possible while still managed to remember to leave Holly some water and aspirin on the bedside table.

 

It was a wonder that she made it to parade on time and even managed to sneak into one of the seats closer to the front so that Oliver would think she arrived earlier than she actually did.

 

Nick sat down next to Gail and set a coffee in front of her, “How’s the good Doctor this morning?”

 

“Still asleep,” Gail picked up the coffee and took a sip, “Where I should be.”

 

“I checked the board on the way in,” Nick leaned back in his chair, “We’re on event detail. The day will be over before you know it.”

 

“It’s not a folk festival is it?” Gail huffed, “I am not in the mood to be around all those pot soaked hipsters with their banjos.”

 

“Tennis tournament,” Nick explained. He patted Gail’s back. “It’ll be fun.”

 

It was not fun. It was crowded and a snippy suburban mom told Gail off for a good ten minutes. Gail wasn’t sure what it was for because she wasn’t listening, but the pitch of the woman’s voice grated on her nerves.

 

By the time, their shift was over, Gail was ready to steal a tennis racket and slap everyone in the stadium with it. To make things worse, she didn’t even get a chance to call and check on Holly because of all the people.

 

Gail walked into 15 to change clothes when she spotted Holly walking in the hallway. Gail turned her palms toward Holly who was walking toward her, “What are you doing here?”

 

“I just dropped off the last of the cookies I made with Oliver. I’m going to drop in and say hi to Traci,” Holly told Gail with a smile, “How was shift?”

 

Gail just groaned in response.

 

Holly chuckled. She kissed Gail’s cheek and started walking off, “See you at home.”

 

“What time do we have to be ready for dinner?” Gail called after her.

 

Holly turned around, but kept walking away backwards, “Seven.” Then Holly turned back around, continuing to fade away in the hallways of 15.

 

Gail looked at her watch and ducked into the locker room. She didn’t have much time to change, go home, shower, get dressed, and do her makeup especially when she and Holly were sharing a bathroom. If she hadn’t just signed the lease then Gail would have suggested the two of them move into a bigger place. Then they would have room for all of Holly’s things.

 

Gail wasn’t sure how, but Holly made it home before her and was already showered by the time she walked into the front door. She was also sitting on the bed in a towel, watching a documentary.

 

“How did you get home so fast?” Gail asked, stripping on her way to the bathroom.

 

“Traci had already left,” Holly called, not taking her eyes off of the TV. “I talked to Sam for a few minutes so I have no idea how I beat you.”

 

“His name isn’t Sam,” Gail turned on the shower, “It’s Swarek. His first name is Detective.”

 

Holly smiled and glanced at the bathroom door that was halfway open. She decided that Gail probably hadn’t already gotten in the shower so she added, “I got a job offer today.”

 

The shower wrenched off and Gail stuck her head out of the bathroom door, “Yeah? Where at?”

 

Holly looked away from the TV to looked at Gail when she told her, “The Forensic Science Institute. It’s a forensic research facility.”

 

“Great,” Gail smiled, glad that Holly wasn’t really going to have to be a florist or an archaeologist, or a professional kayaker. “Is that the place downtown?”

 

“Downtown Seattle,” Holly countered. She stared hard at Gail’s face, trying to gauge her reaction.

 

The smile immediately fell from Gail’s face. She swallowed and looked away from Holly trying to at least save some face. Gail forced a smile and ducked back into the bathroom, “That’s great.”

 

It went over as well as Holly thought it would, basically with all the luster and fun of a lead balloon. Holly didn’t want to take that job, but so far it was the only one offered to her since she lost the best job she could ever dream of.

 

Holly stood from the bed, deciding not to dwell on it. She had to put on a social face for dinner with Gail’s parents and their friends.

 

Gail was quiet after she got out of the shower and as she was blow drying her hair and while she was getting dressed and while she was doing her makeup and while she was putting on her shoes. She walked right past Holly out the front door because she was so deep in thought.

 

In the hallway in front of the apartment, Holly grabbed Gail’s hand turning her around, “I didn’t say I was going to take the job.”

 

Gail looked at Holly. She clenched her jaw before saying, “I know.”

 

“Then why are you so quiet?” Holly asked, searching Gail’s eyes for the answer.

 

“Because I’m trying not to be a brat,” Gail honestly confessed. “I want you to stay here, but you’re obviously miserable so I shouldn’t tell you that I really don’t want you to take that job because it’s selfish and I want you to be happy.”

 

Holly smiled softly and pulled Gail in for a short, sweet kiss. She touched Gail’s cheek and ran her thumb of Gali’s lips, “I didn’t say I was going.”

 

“You didn’t say you’re staying either,” Gail’s face fought to remain neutral.

 

Holly picked up Gail’s hand and slipped her fingers between Gail’s, “Let’s go have dinner, okay?”

 

Gail noticed that Holly didn’t commit to going to staying or ever really revealing her feelings toward the job. Gail being Gail took that as a sign that Holly may be hiding a desire to leave for a new job over staying in the city with her.

 

The drive to the restaurant was quiet because Gail was thinking about Holly leaving and Holly wracking her brain for what the dinner could be about.

 

Elaine and Bill were waiting at the entrance when Gail dropped her car off at the valet. She could see Holly start to tense up as they got closer so she put a reassuring hand on the small of Holly’s back, just so Holly would know she was there.

 

Elaine hugged Holly. “You look gorgeous, Holly,” Elaine gushed over Holly.

 

“Thank you,” Holly shyly smiled at the compliment before greeting Bill.

 

Gail got a less warm greeting from her mother, which she expected. Elaine told Gail that she looked nice and patted her shoulder. Alternatively, Bill hugged Gail more comfortably than he did Holly. He rubbed her back and told her she was a vision.

 

Elaine told them that the others were inside and led the way in. Bill followed his wife closely while Holly took a moment to get moving. She reached behind her and grabbed Gail’s hand without looking. Holly wasn’t the most social person and this kind of event was something that she always dreaded.

 

Gail, who had been dragged to hundreds of dinners like this, was more bored than anything. She gently squeezed Holly’s hand to let her know that she was right there with her.

 

As they neared the table, Holly cursed under her breath at a volume only Gail could hear. Gail followed Holly’s eyes and saw her parents shaking hands with Tom, then his wife. The had to move around the large round table to shake hands with the City Manager, his wife the Medical Officer of Health for the entire city, and a man who Holly recognized as one of the pathologists the city brought in from Vancouver to go over all the questionable cases.

 

Holly turned her head to the side as they kept walking toward the table and whispered to Gail, “I’m going to vomit.”

 

Gail whispered into Holly’s ear, “It’s just dinner. It’ll be fine. I promise after this, you don’t have to socialize with anyone for a week.”

 

Holly smiled and caught Gail’s eyes, “I’ll hold you to that.”

 

Elaine took charge as usual and introduced Holly to everyone at the table. Gail already knew everyone, but the pathologist from Vancouver so she did like her mother taught her and introduced herself to him.

 

The waiter came by and the City Manager ordered three bottles of wine for the table. Holly nearly blanched at the thought of drinking any alcohol after all the vodka she downed the night before. She politely accepted a glass of wine, but decided to only drink on her water. When she looked over at Gail, she seemed to understand and they made a silent agreement that Gail would drink the wine for Holly.

 

No one seemed to be in a hurry to clue Holly in on what the dinner was about. They talked about the weather and asked about each others’ families. The Vancouver pathologist and Holly exchanged credentials and discussed mutual colleagues for a socially acceptable amount of time. Then they both became bored with each other and joined other conversations. It seemed the only people they were interested in that spent time in the morgue were the dead ones.

 

“Holly,” Elaine excused herself from her current conversation to talk to Holly.

 

Holly looked at Elaine and smiled when she saw that Elaine was smiling at her. “Hi.”

 

Elaine chuckled. “I just wanted to let you know that our new garden is seeing little sprouts already. Bill is so proud of it. Yesterday, I came home and Bill was showing it off to the neighbors.”

 

“I’m glad,” Holly told Elaine. She was glad that her labor of stress turned into something beautiful.

 

“The neighbors keep asking for your number so they can pay you to put one in,” Elaine giggled like it was hilarious. “I told them that I’d ask you, but you’ll probably be far too busy soon to do it.”

 

Holly furrowed her eyebrows, “Busy doing what?”

 

“Oh,” Elaine used her napkin to cover her mouth, but put it back down, “It seems I have gotten ahead of myself.” Elaine looked across the table and called, “Clifford, it may have just spilled the beans so now would be as good of a time as ever.”

 

Across the table, the City Manager smiled, “It’s perfectly understandable. I know how excited you are.”

 

Holly looked at Gail with a panicked expression. All of a sudden, it all started to make sense to Holly. Gail was just lost, but put her arm on the back of Holly’s chair.

 

“Dr. Stewart,” Clifford the City Manager put his napkin on his lap as the entrees arrived. “After my wife, as well as Dr. Umbridge,” he gestured to the pathologist from Vancouver, “examined all of your case files, it was concluded that you are the best and brightest pathologist in the territory. That being said, there is a vacant position at the head of the Medical Examiner’s.”

 

Holly could taste her heart beating. It was physically impossible, but she could taste the rapid beating through her entire body. Gail’s eyes had grown wide as the speech went on because she too had reached the same conclusion as Holly.

 

“We’re all here tonight to offer you the big chair in the big office,” he smiled like he was a game show host showing Holly her brand new car and a trip to Costa Rica. “Chief Medical Examiner for the Metropolitan Area.”

 

All eyes were on Holly who was at a completely loss for words. She quickly regained some semblance of social grace that she told the group that was at a loss for words.

 

Understanding smiles lit up the table. Elaine put her hand on Holly’s shoulder, “I’m sorry to ambush you like this, but the decision wasn’t really official until a few hours ago.” Elaine took her hand back and picked up her fork, “Of course you have a little while to think it over.”

 

“Of course, if you don’t want the position let us know as soon as possible,” the Chief Medical Officer of Health smiled like it was a joke that Holly wouldn’t want the job. “It’ll be hard to find someone as qualified with your case history and track record. Not to mention you’re fresh out of medical school and you’ve already been published multiple times.”

 

Holly smiled politely back and picked up her wine glass. It turned out that Gail wasn’t going to get to drink both of their glasses after all.

 

The rest of the meal was pleasant conversation and sensational food. Elaine tried to talk Gail and Holly into dessert, but Holly declined and Gail was quick to follow her lead. The group said their farewells at the door and the City Manager gave Holly his card so that she could call him with her decision.

 

Holly was the picture of elegance all the way to the valet station, but as soon as she was in the car and Gail was pulling away from the curb, she sunk back in her seat and put her face in her hands. “Oh my god.”

 

“That was definitely an ambush,” Gail reached over and rubbed Holly’s back, “Are you okay?”

 

“Let’s go to The Penny,” Holly picked her face up out of her hands.

 

Gail changed courses. She glanced over at Holly who was looking out of the window. “Is this something you want?”

 

“I have never thought about it,” Holly shook her head. “It literally never crossed my mind.”

 

“So is that a no?” Gail ventured. It seemed that all of her work destressing Holly was out the window.

 

“It’s an I don’t know,” Holly snapped in a demure way that only Holly could.. She leaned on the door away from Gail.

 

Gail quietly uttered, “Sorry.”

 

Holly mentally slapped herself. She turned to Gail and nervously fidgeted with her hair, “No. I’m sorry. I’m just freaking out because it’s a lot, but I shouldn’t be rude to you.” Holly took slow breaths to hopefully stave off her impending baking, binge drinking, gardening, hysterical crying freak out. “It’s all completely absurd because yesterday I was freaking out because I didn’t have a job and now I have too many offers.”

 

“Hey,” Gail reached over and took Holly’s hand as she pulled into the parking lot of The Penny, “At least you haven’t cut off all of your hair.”

 

Holly laughed at the memory and smiled adoringly over at Gail. When Gail parked, Holly surprised her with a kiss. She rested her forehead against Gail’s and whispered, “Thank you.”

 

Gail just smiled back in response.

 

They were both entirely overdressed for The Penny. When they walked in, Oliver asked them when the Queen was arriving and Andy told Gail she cleaned up nice.

 

“What’s the occasion?” Dov asked, not getting out of his chair to steal two more chairs from the table behind him. He slid them to a space everyone had created for them.

 

They sat down and Gail huffed convincingly, “Dinner with my parents.”

 

“Ouch,” Nick smiled from across the table, “I will go get you two ladies a drink.”

 

Holly stood back up, “I will come with you.” She touched Gail’s shoulder, “The usual?”

 

Gail nodded and watched Holly and Nick walked to the bar to get their drinks.

 

“How’s Holly doing?” Oliver asked, looking over Gail’s shoulder to the young doctor leaning on the bar. “Celery told me what you asked for.”

 

“Well she was relaxed until she got two job offers,” Gail ran her finger over the grain of the table. “One that she  would like in Seattle and one I’m not really sure that she wants, here.”

 

“Yikes,” Oliver leaned on the table.

 

Gail looked around the table after briefly forgetting that Oliver wasn’t the only one that could hear her, “And no one heard any of this.”

 

Dov put his hands up in surrender and Andy shrugged.

 

“I accidentally on purpose ordered doubles,” Holly set Gail’s drink down in front of her.

 

“Just like she accidentally on purpose took two shots of tequila at the bar,” Nick set down another beer for Dov and put his own at his seat.

 

Gail looked over at Holly, “I thought you’d have enough for a year.”

 

“Apparently not,” Holly flippantly waved her hand. She took a long drink of her bourbon and stood up. “I’m going to go find a dart board.”

 

Gail caught Nick’s eyes and jerked her head toward Holly. Nick got up, grabbed his beer, and followed Holly.

 

“Shouldn’t you be the one following her?” Andy asked.

 

Gail shrugged, “I don’t know what’s going on with her, but she’s freaking out and I don’t know what to do so I’m just going to sit here and drink.”

 

“C’mon Peck,” Oliver stood up with his beer, “Let’s take a walk.”

 

Gail knew that she probably needed to listen to Oliver because he had never steered her wrong. She picked up her bourbon and followed Oliver to the bar. Oliver saddled up to the bar and signaled the bartender over. When he stood in front of the bar, Oliver looked at him, “Hey Jimmy.”

 

“Hey Oliver,” the bartender smiled. “What can I get you?”

 

Oliver pointed to the shelf at the very top behind the bar. “Let me see that Pappy Van Winkle.”

 

The bartender looked to where Oliver was pointing. Then he looked back at Oliver, “Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah,” Oliver nodded, “Two of them.” He motioned between himself and Gail. Once the bourbon was in front of them, Oliver turned to Gail, “Holly will take the job here.”

 

Gail was about to drink the really expensive bourbon Oliver was buying her before he spoke. Then she put the bourbon down and looked at him, “Why do you say that?”

 

“You’re here,” Oliver stated. He took a small sip of the bourbon and hummed, “This is - this is great.”

 

“Holly looked like she was going to throw up when they offered her the job,” Gail shook her head and picked up the bourbon. She took a sip and reveled in it for a moment. She looked at the glass and appreciated the flavor.

 

Oliver put his glass down and looked at it, “Still, you’re here.” He didn’t look away from the bourbon when he continued, “As I recall, you’re the one that ended the relationship. And I know for a fact that Holly had other offers for places to stay. She wants to be around you or with you.”

 

“How do you know that she had offers for places to stay?” Gail asked.

 

“I was one of them,” Oliver answered, “I know you think that I sit around all day in my big office eating sandwiches and watching cat videos, but I made trips to the lab quite often. Holly is a great person. I walked in right after she was fired.”

 

Gail picked up her drink and rolled the glass in her hand, “That’s right. You’re the one that told me what happened.” Gail took another sip of the drink and finally confessed, “One of the City Managers and the Chief Medical whatever, and my parents and Tom offered Holly the Chief Medical Examiner position.”

 

“Oh wow,” Oliver’s eyes widened. He turned completely in his seat and asked, “Really?”

 

Gail nodded, “And she looked like she wanted to barf all over the table.”

 

“That’s why the fancy digs,” Oliver poked Gail’s dress. “You do look great by the way.”

 

“Thanks,” Gail answered as a formality really. She sipped the bourbon and put the glass down onto the bar, “I don’t know what to do.”

 

“There’s not really anything for you to do is there?” Oliver finished off his bourbon and put the glass back on the bar with a solid thump. “You just be there for her. Be what she needs and listen to her.”

 

Gail could feel the bourbon making its way through her body. She couldn’t seem to drag her eyes from the wooden bar. “What if she leaves?”

 

Oliver put his hand on Gail’s back, “Then it’s your turn to make a choice.”

 

Gail shook her head, “I just - we just got back together. Officially, last night.” She inhaled deeply trying to keep the tears behind her eyes. She shook her head again, denying that anything was wrong. “I know what I’m doing. I’m not over there,” Gail gestured to the dart area where Holly and Nick were starting another game. “I’m not over there because I’m scared I’ll freak out and push her away again. There’s no third chance. I push her away now and I may just push her all the way to Seattle.”

 

Oliver smiled, “You actually recognize what you’re doing. You know what we call that? Progress.”

 

“Knowing what I’m doing and stopping myself are two totally different things,” Gail huffed.

 

“You can do it,” Oliver watched Gail drink the rest of her bourbon. He stood up, “You know that you can do it.”

 

Gial saw Oliver’s eyes drifted off past her shoulder. She turned around and saw Celery lingering near the door. “Looks like your ride is here.”

 

“I can tell her to go ahead and go home,” Oliver offered.

 

Gail shook her head, “No. Go ahead. I probably need to go check on Holly.”

 

Oliver pulled Gail into a hug, “You’re a good person, Gail and Holly loves you. Just remember those two things and you’ll do great.”

 

Gail watched Oliver pay the tab and leave with Celery. Celery gave her a friendly wave before following Oliver out. Then she looked across the bar. Holly was looking thoughtfully at the ground until Nick interrupted by handing her the darts. Holly forced a smile and accepted them.

 

“I’m a good person,” Gail whispered to herself, “Holly loves me.” Somehow those words helped tremendously. She slid off of her stool and made her way across the bar.


	14. Chapter 14

Deep down, Gail knew that if she asked Holly to stay in town she would. Holly never spoke about ambitions above being the best forensic pathologist possible. One time Holly mentioned getting promoted to senior forensic pathologist, but Gail knew that that really wasn’t a change in anything, but a few extra thousand dollars a year and maybe being in charge of an intern. Chief Medical Examiner meant more paperwork and less time in the lab. It meant meeting with politicians and being the spokesperson for the lab. None of those things were things that Holly liked. Gail knew that Holly loved being the lab more than anything.

“I’m a good person,” Gail whispered to herself.

“Hmm?” Holly asked. She had been standing in the kitchen, downing enough water to make sure that she wouldn’t have a hangover the next day and ensuring many late night trips to the bathroom.

Gail had been lost in thought since they left The Penny. She had been talking herself through every possible scenario that could happen depending on what job Holly took, as well as one farfetched scenario where somehow they both come into a large amount of money and Holly opens her own forensic pathology consulting business and Gail becomes a part time detective, part time professional gamer all the while living in a penthouse in downtown.

Gail was standing by the front door, barely out of her shoes when she started mumbling to herself. She looked at Holly through the pass through. “I said I’m a good person.”

Holly stopped mid drink. She put the water down and answered, “I agree. Is this some sudden realization or…?”

“Oliver told me to remember two things,” Gail explained, standing in one place. Her shoulders were completely lax with her hands hanging uselessly at her sides, “That I’m a good person and that you love me.”

Holly started to trying to answer, but felt the need to be in the same room as Gail for whatever discussion was about to commence. Holly stood in front of Gail. “I agree with both of those things. Why do you need to remember them?”

Gail looked over Holly’s face, seeing the now sober, completely clear eyes. She took two hours to drink heavily because reigning herself in and drank water, biding her time by playing billiards with Andy, until Gail was ready to leave.

“Because I’m freaked out that I’ll push you away again,” Gail just settled for complete honestly. “And that you’ll move to Seattle because you never wanted to be Chief and you love doing that weird dissecting people stuff and walking through swamps to pick up bones and that one time you scuba dove into the bottom of the lake to retrieve that person. You love all that weird stuff and if you stayed, you wouldn’t get to do it anymore.” Gail gestured to the bedroom door, “And we can keep drinking and sleeping and saying we’ll talk about it tomorrow, but we’ll run out of tomorrows.”

Holly opened her mouth and shook her head, “I don’t know… I don’t know what to do. I’ve talked myself in and out of both of those jobs. I don’t want to leave, but I don’t know if I’m a Chief Medical Examiner.” Holly put her hand over Gail’s heart, “I’m scared to screw up. I could screw up the entire M.E.’s office. I could screw up us. I’m petrified. I haven’t moved on anything because I am scared. I can’t move.”

Gail was surprised as the vulnerability that she was seeing in Holly. It actually explained Holly’s blasé attitude at The Penny a lot more than Gail’s theory that she did something to piss Holly off. Gail slid her arms around Holly and held her tight.

“And you haven’t said anything about what you want,” Holly mumbled against Gail’s shoulder.

Gail kissed Holly’s cheek and smiled, “I’m all about growing these days.”

“But I need you to tell me what you think,” Holly pulled away. She looked at Gail and asked, “What do you think?”

Gail bit her tongue. She was trying not to push Holly at all. However, Holly asked for her opinion, “I don’t want you to leave, but I don’t want you in a job that you hate. And you’re going crazy with nothing to do. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

Holly took in what Gail said. She kissed Gail, then smiled wistfully. “This is good. We both don’t know what to do.”

“Well, let’s go change,” Gail offered. “We can go to bed and tomorrow we’ll have breakfast and talk about everything.”

“You are definitely all about growing,” Holly smiled and grabbed Gail’s hand, pulling her into the bedroom.

There was no alarm that woke Gail and Holly up. They just both seemed to rise out of their dreams together. Holly smiled upon seeing Gail first when she opened her eyes. She loved how Gail’s hair stuck up everywhere now that it was short. She loved Gail’s reluctance to open her eyes and the way she burrowed into the pillow, fighting off the start of the day. Holly moved closer to Gail who lifted her head up to set on Holly’s shoulder.

Holly loved waking up like this. She had time to just exist with Gail before the day started. She kissed Gail’s forehead, then picked up one of Gail’s hands, linking their fingers together. Their hands rested on her stomach, just above the bottom hem of her t-shirt.

Gail was barely awake and she wasn’t in the hurry to get out of bed or away from Holly. She reveled in their morning cuddles as much as Holly did. The first time they dated, Gail thought it would be weird trying to find a comfortable position to just hold each other, but she quickly found out that every position with Holly was comfortable. It was like when they were holding each other, nothing bad could occur.

They laid in silence for a while before Holly had to get up to go to the bathroom. When Gail heard the shower turn on, she rolled out of bed. Staying in her warm, comfy bed was nothing compared to a morning shower with Holly.

Holly was a little surprised when she heard the shower door open, but smiled immediately when Gail’s hands pressed against her lower back. Gail moved her hands slowly around Holly’s sides and crossed them low on Holly’s hips. Gail kissed Holly’s shoulder and then the side of her neck.

It was the first time that Gail had touched her like that since they got back together and it was already supremely arousing for Holly. It wasn’t their first time having shower sex, but as far as both of them were concerned, it was the best time.

The water was ice cold once they finished getting clean after they got dirty. Holly blow dried her hair while Gail got dressed. Then they switched. Holly was laying on the bed, ready to go before Holly stepped out of the closet fully dressed.

Holly offered her hand to Gail and pulled her up off of the bed when Gail took it. They held hands all the way to the restaurant and all the way to their booth in the back.

They ordered coffee and orange juice before settling into a content silence. Holly leaned on the table and smiled lazily at Gail. Gail smiled back, happy and slightly embarrassed. “What?”

Holly shook her head, “Nothing.” She took a sip of her orange juice and leaned back against the worn red vinyl behind her.

Although the morning had been pretty much the best morning that she had had in a long time, Gail knew that there was a reason that they went to breakfast, “Have you thought any more about what you’re going to do?”

The smile dropped from Holly’s face and she took a long, deep breath, “I’ve thought about it. There are definitely pros and cons for each job.” Holly scratched the back of her neck, “But I’m not leaving.”

“Leaving where?” Gail asked. She picked up her sugar and poured some into her coffee.

“This city,” Holly gestured out the window, “I love it here. I love the restaurants. The parks, the lake.” She waited for Gail to make a face before adding, “You, of course.” She rested her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her palm, “I still don’t think I’m Chief material, but I’m going to call Clifford and ask if I can maybe just have my old job back.”

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t give it to you,” Gail nodded. She had the same thought in the shower as she was washing Holly’s hair in the shower. She smiled though because Holly seemed determined not to leave. However, she had to ask, “What about that job in Seattle?”

“It would have been fun, but…” Holly trailed off not really feeling the need to explain. It would have definitely been a great job and she would have loved every second of it, but every second outside of work would have been miserable.

“But for the record, you would make an amazing Chief Medical Examiner.” Gail took a sip of her coffee and grinned over the rim.

Holly bashfully looked down at the table and moved her eyes back up to Gail. “I don’t know about that, but thank you.”

They ate breakfast with a lighter air about them. Gail thought a lot about Holly and what she was potentially giving up to stay. It wasn’t fair. Holly had done everything right. She had forged her own path against the odds and become the one thing that she always wanted to be just to have the rug pulled out from under her. Meanwhile, Gail probably could have gotten into the police college had she failed all the tests because of her family name. Gail had more opportunities given to her than Holly had that she had to work for. It wasn’t fair and Gail was upset about it.

Holly dropped Gail off at 15 Division for work after breakfast. They kissed in the car and Holly told Gail to be safe. When Gail walked into the station, Holly drove off to meet with Clifford.

However the meeting didn’t go as planned. Holly’s old job had been temporarily eliminated to free up the funds to pay for the pathologists that were flown in from Vancouver. Holly’s job wouldn’t be available again for a year at the earliest. The other pathologist position had already been filled by a certified pathologist from Quebec City. The support staff positions were starting to fill up again and Clifford used a lot of ship metaphors that slightly convoluted things, but the gist of it was that he was disappointed that Holly didn’t want the Chief job because according to her credentials, she was perfect for it. Holly sat in the chair across from Clifford and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She sighed and asked, “What other positions are available?”

Clifford looked through a folder on his desk and pulled out a piece of paper showing all the positions that were going to be open in the Medical Examiner’s office. Most of it was already filled in so Holly let her eyes bounce around to all the blank spaces to find something to do.

“Oh wow,” Gail frowned, looking over the body that was face down, halfway into a watery bog. “That’s gross.”

The man behind her put his handkerchief over his nose and asked, “When is this thing going to get out of there?”

“That person is not a thing,” Gail snapped at him. She glanced around. Chloe had wandered off because one of the boys said something about something else a little farther away.

“You just called it gross,” he took a step back and dropped the yellow handkerchief back around his neck.

“People can be gross,” she answered, stepping away from the body as well, “You’re gross.”

He just sighed and rubbed his eyes, “I have twenty twelve-year-old boys two camps over. I just want to know when I can let them back into our campground to pack up.”

“I’m gonna need to talk to whoever found the body and everyone that saw it,” Gail explained before picking up her radio, “This is 1504, we need a forensic team down to the Lower Oak Valley Campground. We’ve got a body.”

Chloe’s voice crackled over the radio, “Make that two bodies.”

Gail was taking statements when she heard more cars drive up. She figured it was the forensic team. She braced herself for a few hours with the boring Vancouver pathologist that they had dinner with a few nights ago. He rarely spoke and when he did it bored him. Even Gail’s mother couldn’t coax a conversation out of that man.

“Hey Price,” Gail said when she found a way out of the initial greeting with him, “I’m going to grab some more crime scene tape. Walk the forensic team around.”

“Awesome,” Chloe smiled brightly and Gail rolled her eyes.

Gail went back to the squad car and saw that there was a crime scene unit SUV parked across the lot from her. Gail quickly ducked into the squad car and pulled out her phone, but found that it had no signal. She huffed alone in the car and looked up at the overcast sky. She hated the middle of nowhere with all the stupid trees and the stupid wilderness. Mostly she hated the stupid lack of cell signal. She just wanted to call Holly and see how her meeting went, but no signal meant no call.

Since they really did need some crime scene tape in case some other wilderness adventurer came walking past, Gail got out of the car and popped the trunk. She picked up her duty bag and looked in the bin that was usually in the back of the car.

“Hey, Officer Peck.”

Gail grabbed the crime scene tape out of the bin and turned around. She saw a familiar face from the lab. “Hey Rodney. You got to keep your job?”

“I was pretty much the only one,” Rodney put his hands in the pockets of his forensics windbreaker. “With some expanded duties, but no extra pay for it. Apparently we’re on a tight budget now.”

“Yeah?” Gail asked closing the trunk and leaning back on it. Since she couldn’t ask Holly about what was going on, she was going to get the information from somewhere else.

Rodney nodded, “There’s only one pathologist position now. They hired a one from Quebec City. She’s already rearranged her lab.” Rodney looked toward the woods, “It’s a mess now.” Another forensic SUV pulled up and parked next to Rodney’s car. He winced, but smiled, “Looks like the new boss is here.”

“You already have a new boss?” Gail pulled out her phone. She really needed to call Holly to see what happened. If there was only one pathologist position that was already filled and already a new boss, Holly didn’t have any options left in the city.

Rodney looked at the car behind him, but when he turned back around Gail had wandered off toward the main road staring at her phone.

Gail finally found a signal at the edge of the parking lot and put the phone to her ear. She looked at the forest and heard Rodney call, “Hey boss.” Then Gail heard a phone ringing.

Her head whipped around. At the other end of the parking lot, Holly was digging her phone out of her pocket. Holly answered the phone, “Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” Gail asked, walking toward Holly.

Holly looked up and saw Gail. She hung up her phone and put it in the pocket of a light purple jacket. When Gail got close enough, Holly answered, “I’m working.”

“You took the Chief job?” Gail was a little upset that Holly didn’t tell her. She was also wary because it wasn’t really a job that Holly wanted. She looked Holly over and saw her jeans tucked into her rubber boots. Her red lunchbox thing was slung over her shoulder. She certainly looked like she was ready to go to work.

“It was that or take the weekend lab sterilization job,” Holly shrugged. When she was in Clifford’s office, she thought about it for a few minutes, did a quick pro and con list, and then decided that it was the lesser of two evils. She might not like all the work, but she loved some of the work and she wouldn’t have to leave town. Holly didn’t really want to explain herself in front of Rodney. She didn’t feel it was good to air her doubt in her ability to handle the job in front of one of her employees. “Where are the bodies?”

Gail understood. She watched Holly start to put her hair up before turning back toward the woods and leading the duo, “This way.”

Gail stood at the rim of the campground and watched Holly work. Although it wasn’t completely ideal, Holly was back in her element. Holly didn’t look miserable. In fact, Gail thought she looked happy. She wasn’t smiling, but there was something about Holly’s demeanor that showed Gail, she was happy to be back at work. She was glad to be doing all the things that she love to do. She watched Holly examine the body and take samples of the water. She watched Holly catch a fly in a jar with ease and put it into her neatly categorized lunchbox thing.

Chloe and Gail were standing by their squad car a few hours later, watching the bodies being loaded into the van that would transport them to the morgue. Most of their job at things like that was to just make sure no one  disturbed the crime scene, but the front entrance of the campground had been shut off and all the other campers had been asked to leave so the place was pretty much vacant. Holly sent Rodney ahead of the bodies to receive them and set them up for her so that she could get the autopsy started as soon as she arrived.

“It’s good to have you back,” Chloe told Holly as she walked up to them. She stepped up to Holly and hugged her.

Holly awkwardly received the hug, but smiled nonetheless. “Thank you.” She readjusted the much heavier red bag over her shoulder and added, “It’s great to be back.”

Holly’s eyes drifted to Gail who didn’t say anything. She just waited for Holly to say something first with a blank look on her face.

Chloe excused herself to radio that she and Gail were available for calls again. She really just wanted to give Gail and Holly a moment because it seemed they needed one.

“When do you get off of shift?” Holly asked quietly. She was feeling slightly guilty that she just took the job that she told Gail she didn’t want without saying anything. She knew it was her decision, but she really didn’t want Gail feel left out when she had become so entrenched in the process to get there.

“A few hours,” Gail shrugged, hooking her thumbs in her duty belt, trying to remain casual.

Holly smiled hopeully and poked Gail’s arm, “Can I take you to dinner?”

“Do I have to dress up?” Gail narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose.

Holly laughed, “No. We can go get beer and pizza if you want.”

“Slightly nicer than that,” Gail made a show of looking Holly over, “Since you have a job and all.”

“Alright,” Holly kissed her, to Gail’s surprise. She patted Gail’s arm as she started moving toward her vehicle, “You think about it and we’ll go wherever you want.”

Gail fought off a smile and watched Holly walk off with a smug smile. She knew that the kiss pretty much took whatever adverse feelings Gail might have had away. At least for the moment. When Holly looked behind her, Gail was looking back with a dumbstruck look. It made Holly smile wider.

Holly was standing in the hallway outside of the locker room talking to Nick and Oliver when Gail walked in at the end of her shift. She caught the end of Oliver congratulating Holly as slowed down before stepping inside. Holly caught Gail’s eyes and they both smiled at each other before Gail ducked into the room.

There was a larger group around Holly when Gail walked out. It was mostly detectives who knew that knowing the Chief M.E. would probably help in the long run when they needed to put a rush on something. Traci actually seemed genuinely happy for her and hugged Holly when she saw Gail exit the locker room.

Traci chased off the other detectives, leaving Holly standing against the wall when Gail walked over. Holly fiddled with the keys in her hand, “You look nice.”

Gail looked down at her clothes, “I wore this to breakfast.”

“Well you still look nice,” Holly tried to be nice and polite because she still felt guilty. She gestured to the door. “Where are we going to eat?”

“I saw an Italian Bistro downtown on the way back to 15,” Gail offered, walking with Holly toward the door.

“Sounds good,” Holly agreed. She opened the door and held it open for Gail.

The drive was quiet and they were immediately seated at the restaurant. It was a cute little restaurant with white table linens and tea candles. It was a little more romantic than Gail thought it would be, but Holly seemed to love it.

After ordering their drinks, Gail got straight to the point, “Why did you take the job?”

Holly leaned on the table, “I wanted to work in that office and I wanted to stay in town. I compromised. It’s just extra paperwork and I have to go to some events, less time in the morgue, but it’s my office now and I can make it what I want to.”

Gail bit her lip and studied Holly. She asked, “Are you going to be happy?”

“I think I will,” Holly answered. Her smile faltered, but she added, “I can make it work.” She was trying to build a wall of confidence up behind her statement so that Gail wouldn’t be upset. Holly ran through the pros and cons lists again in her head to help bolster the confidence.

“Just, please let me know if you get unhappy,” Gail pleaded with Holly across the table. “Having a relationship with this job is hard enough. Oliver got divorced. Swarek can’t hold down a relationship. I mean, Chris turned to drugs. I don’t want our jobs to mess us up.”

 

“They won’t if we don’t let them,” Holly looked at the candle flickering on the table, “Granted, I have never seen any relationship ever work out until death, except that one couple that came into the morgue together who died in a shootout with the SWAT team, but I think that we have a real shot as long as you don’t plan on robbing any banks anytime soon.”

 

Gail smiled genuinely. She loved that Holly had confidence in their relationship because Gail was never really sure if anyone else she had dated had that confidence in longevity. Gail’s smile faded. She had to confess what she really thought. “You’re not taking this job just because of me, are you?”

 

Holly wasn’t actually entirely sure. Since she got offers for jobs in other places, she figured that her reputation wasn’t that tarnished. If she waited a few more weeks, she could probably get just about any open pathologist job that she wanted. She didn’t have to be the boss. She never really aspired to be the boss. But she was the boss now because she didn’t want to leave town, which had never really been the case. Holly was a wanderer. She never really had roots anywhere.

 

But maybe it was time to plant some. Holly squished her lips to one side of her face and answered honestly, “That was part of it. Definitely.” Holly saw the dread start to coat Gail’s face and knew what Gail was thinking. “I will not associate any ill feelings about my job toward you. You didn’t make me take that job. That job allows me to stay here. You, my little egomaniac, are not the only reason I love this city.”

 

Gail rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair. Of course if Holly wasn’t the one to break the seriousness of the conversation, Gail would have probably said something snarky to do the same thing.

 

Their food arrived shortly after that. Gail stole Holly’s garlic bread in a less than sneaky fashion. Holly smiled as Gail chomped off the end. “I love you.”

 

Gail stopped mid-chew, a little surprised. She expected more of an angry death threat for stealing her garlic bread. She knew how much Holly liked it.

 

Holly laughed at the face Gail made and continued eating.


	15. Chapter 15

“What are you doing?” Gail asked, walking into the bedroom after shift. Holly was in the bed with her laptop next to her.

 

“Looking at apartments,” Holly adjusted her glasses, not looking away from the computer. “And houses and condos and townhouses. Your parents have been great, but I can’t keep my furniture in their basement forever.”

 

Gail stopped cold in the doorway of the closet, “You’re moving out?”

 

Holly looked up from the computer, “Yeah. I thought that was the plan.”

 

“No I mean it’s fine. I guess whatever,” Gail grabbed some clothes, quickly walked into the bathroom, and closed the door.

 

Gail couldn’t believe that she didn’t think of that. She just thought that Holly would live with her forever. It was the perfect shitty realization to end a superbly shitty day. Gail found that angrily shampooing her hair led to angrily cursing while she tried to get the shampoo out of her eyes.

 

After she angrily washed herself, then angrily turned off the water, she angrily dried off, and got dressed. She just wanted to angrily go to sleep.

 

However, when she stepped out of the bathroom it seemed that Holly was waiting for her.

 

“Gail,” Holly started trying to talk, but Gail laid down on her side of the bed and pulled the covers up over her shoulders. Holly looked down at Gail trying to will her into speaking.

 

Holly inhaled and exhaled slowly. She had an idea about why Gail was mad at her and she knew a quick remedy to the problem, but she wanted Gail to come to her. She didn’t want Gail’s petulance to  derail them again, but she didn’t want to force Gail to talk about something she wasn’t ready for.

 

Holly laid down and turned off the light. She started to reach for Gail, but drew her hand back instead. She tucked it under her pillow and forced herself into sleep.

 

When Gail woke up, Holly was already gone to work. In the clear light of the morning, she was an idiot the night before. She knew she was just tired and still riding on a bad day. She found a note from Holly in the kitchen telling her that the coffee was already made and probably still hot.

 

Gail knew that after work she was going to have to talk to Holly. Gail went about her morning without Holly and went into 15 Division with the resolve that she was going to not be a jerk all day...um, most of the day - well not be a jerk to her co-workers most of the day. Except Andy. and probably not Dov either. Gail shook her head. She was just going to not be a jerk to Holly.

 

Gail sent Holly a text during parade that earned her a morning at a desk catching up on her paperwork. She was usually on top of it, but she had fallen behind, trying to make sure she got home to Holly as quickly as possible.

 

Everything was quiet for a few hours. Gail was just finishing up the last of her paperwork and was contemplating going to get some coffee when she saw a commotion start in Oliver’s office. Oliver called all the available officers into the parade room.

 

Gail quickly made her way into the room, but when Oliver stepped in he told her to go into his office. She knew that this wasn’t a time to argue. Something was happening and Oliver didn’t have time for games.

 

Gail walked into the Oliver’s office and looked back out at all the officers moving around. Five officers left the parade room almost immediately and ran out the door. Gail narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like not knowing what was happening.

 

Oliver’s office phone rang. Gail was quick to answer it, “Shaw’s office.”

 

“Where is Shaw?” the man on the other end of the line demanded. “Tell him to answer his damn phone and get those officers to the morgue immediately.”

 

Gail didn’t answer whoever was yelling at her over the phone. Everything got really slow around her and the noise started to fade out. Then her breathing started to speed up and everything around her started speeding forward.

 

The phone was left hanging off of the desk when Gail pushed the door to Oliver’s office open. She ran down the stairs and grabbed her keys off of the desk she was sitting at as she passed it. She could vaguely hear Oliver calling her from the parade room, but Gail didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. She ran faster, easily dodging other officers milling around. She had to get to the morgue.

 

Gail ran toward the squad car lot and found a line of squad cars trying to get out. She didn’t slow down as she turned the corner and ran past all the cars. The morgue was only a few blocks away. She was just going to have to run.

 

Gail couldn’t feel anything. She just knew that something bad was happening where Holly was and she had to get there as fast as she could.

 

She could see the lights of the squad cars that had already arrived. Among the mess of police vehicles was a large white van. It wasn’t the department’s crisis response van to there wasn’t an active shooter or violent threat, but Gail couldn’t read the side of the van until she got closer.

 

She crossed the last street before slowing to a jog through all the cars. She finally got close enough to read the van and blanched when she saw what it said. She trotted past a line of officers trying to keep the crowds back and ducked behind the van. The doors to the morgue were being guarded by other officers. People were going in and out though so as long as she had her uniform on, she could get inside.

 

However, inside the morgue lobby was a different story. Yellow tarps were draped over the hallway entrances and people in hazmat suits were moving behind the tarps. In all the chaos, no one noticed Gail slip past one of the tarps and make her way down the hallway toward Holly’s lab.

 

As she was nearing the door, someone behind her in a full hazmat suit complete with respirator called, “Hey! You can’t be in here.”

 

Gail ignored him and kept walking. She started to walk right into Holly’s lab when she noticed that a glass door was sealed shut, blocking her way to Holly’s office. When Gail looked inside, she saw Holly with her arms crossed, pacing back and forth next to a body on the autopsy table. Holly’s lab coat fluttered behind hers as she walked.

 

Gail banged on the glass as the man in the hazmat suit caught up to her. Holly was alarmed, but looked up when she heard the noise. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Gail. She walked up to the glass and asked something that Gail couldn’t hear through the glass.

 

“You have to leave,” the man in the suit told Gail.

 

Gail pulled out her phone and took a step away from the man, “If I’m going to get infected, I’m already infected.” She put her phone to her ear and watched the other side of the glass as Holly got her phone out of a drawer.

 

“What are you doing here?” was the first thing Holly asked.

 

“I heard something happened at the morgue,” Gail put her hand on the glass, wishing she was on the other side of it, “How do you open this door?”

 

“From inside here,” Holly pointed to a flashing red button on the wall, “But I’m not opening it up. The only other way is a Public Health Agency override. You need to get out of here.”

 

“Whatever is going to happen to me is already happening,” Gail eyed the man that was still lingering at her side, “You should probably go do your job and get her out of there.”

 

The man glared at Gail, but walked off.

 

“You shouldn’t have come down here,” Holly sighed. She moved closer to the glass and looked at Gail. “I don’t know what this is yet.”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Gail shook her head, “I’m already down here.” She licked her lips slowly, “Are you okay?”

 

Holly shrugged, “As far as I know. There are just some very convincing symptoms that this corpse may be contagious.” She gestured to the zipped up body bag on the table. “It’s protocol to call in the PHAC. It could be nothing.”

 

“Then I’ll just hang out here and take my lunch break with you,” Gail tapped on the glass, “Open up.”

 

“No Gail,” Holly was dead serious. “I’m not opening that door. Not with you standing right there. It may still be safe out there.”

 

Gail rested her forehead on the glass and sighed, “I can shoot through the glass.”

 

Holly quietly replied, “You won’t. I’m standing right here.” She positioned herself close to the glass and directly in front of Gail, “It’s probably nothing. Please go outside.”

 

Gail shook her head. She held Holly’s eyes when she stated firmly, “I’m not leaving.”

 

Holly’s voice grew hard and went into an authoritative place that Gail had never heard, “Gail, get out right now. It’s dangerous - it could be dangerous and you need to leave.”

 

After initially being taken aback, Gail cocked her head, “Make me.”

 

Holly took a step closer to the glass so that if the glass was gone they would have been inches from each other, “This is my office. This is my fuck up. You can’t get hurt or sick because of an oversight by me. Please, Gail, leave.”

 

“How is this your fuck up?” Gail asked quietly, completely the opposite tone that Holly was taking.

 

That started Holly’s hard demeanor to crumbling. Behind it, Gail would see fear and insecurity. Holly looked away from Gail. She turned on her heel and walked away from the glass before turning back around. She looked helplessly at Gail, “It’s my office now. I’m in charge of _everything_. Everything is my fault.”

 

“No it’s not,” Gail shook her head and put her hand on the glass wishing that she could tough Holly.

 

Holly sighed, “It is.” Her voice was small and defeated.

 

A small team in biohazard gear made their way down the hallway before Gail could reply. One of them was carrying an extra biohazard suit. A woman in one of the suits asked Gail to hang up so that they could speak to her.

 

Gail refused, but they did manage to compromise. Gail told Holly she wasn’t hanging up, but she was muting her phone. She promised to be right back. After Gail muted her phone, Holly moved close to the glass. She was trying to see what was going on or hear it.

 

“We’re told by the incident commander that you should be allowed to stay because you can keep Dr. Stewart calm,” the woman handed Gail the suit, “We’re going to have to open the door and get Dr. Stewart out of there. We’re going to take her to the ballistics lab down the hall for an examination. You are to accompany her, in this suit.”

 

Gail took the suit and unfolded it.

 

“We need to take your duty belt, Officer,” another one of the biohazard people told Gail.

 

She didn’t care. She took it off and handed it over. She just wanted to get Holly out of isolation. Gail pulled on the suit with help and felt it being zipped up her back. They helped her put on the respirator and then pulled the hood over her face. It took a little getting used to, but once her eyes adjusted to the plastic face mask she grabbed her phone. She turned it off of mute and put it on speaker so that she could hear Holly.

 

“What’s going on?” Holly asked, scared because she had been left out of the loop for so long.

 

“We’re going to get you out of there Dr. Stewart,” the woman who seemed to be in charge told her. “I’m going to need you to open the door and walk with us to the ballistics lab.”

 

Holly looked through the glass at Gail. Gail saw just how scared Holly was. Gail held Holly’s eyes when she spoke, “It’s okay. Just open the door. It’ll be okay.”

 

Holly nodded. She moved to the flashing red button and pushed it again. The light stopped flashing and the glass door slid open.

 

Everything happened so quickly around Holly and before she knew it, she was in the ballistics lab with a PHAC officer, Gail, and a portable decontamination shower. She knew what that meant.

 

“Do you have to be here?” Gail asked, looking over at the other woman while Holly started getting undressed.

 

The woman nodded. “I have to make sure Dr. Stewart’s decontamination shower is thorough for her health.”

 

“It’s fine,” Holly folded up her jacket and put it on the gun storage locker.

 

Once Holly was undressed and in the shower, Gail asked the woman who was supervising from a respectable distance, “What happened?”

 

The woman looked at the shower and answered quietly so Holly couldn’t hear. The water was so loud beating on the plastic portable show that Holly probably couldn’t hear them anyway. “Dr. Stewart found the signs of any number of dangerous and infectious diseases in the deceased. She got everyone out of the building and locked herself down. She did everything she was supposed to. It’s contained and it’s not going to be a large incident.”

 

“Is she going to be okay?” Gail asked, getting to what she really wanted to know.

 

The woman nodded. “Everything that Dr. Stewart narrowed the disease down to a few possibilities while she was in the lab by herself. All the diseased on the list can be treated, especially because it was caught so early.”

 

Gail looked at Holly, watching her wash out her hair with the soap provided by PHAC. Holly ducked her head under the spray and closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe that she’d been the boss for less than a week and there was an actual disaster. An infectious disease right after she was put in charge. It seemed like her doubts in her ability to do the job were well founded. She wasn’t a leader. She was a scientist who did best doing her job by herself with no one under her.

 

Another PHAC officer walked into the room with a plastic evidence bag. He took all of Holly’s clothes and left a paper suit in their place. Holly’s phone was already in the bag. Gail made a conscious effort to stand between the man and Holly, blocking his eyeline.

 

Once he was gone, the woman asked, “She’s your girlfriend huh?”

 

Gail nodded.

 

The woman smirked, “Well, you shouldn’t have been here for this, but you’ve been professional about it Officer Peck. The Incident Commander was right about you.”

 

“Who is the Incident Commander?” Gail asked.

 

“Detective Sergeant Williams,” the woman answered. “She knew you were in here and said you should stay.”

 

Gail blinked. She asked, “Noelle Williams?”

 

The woman nodded.

 

Gail was surprised that she didn’t know Noelle was a Detective Sergeant. She didn’t even know Noelle was back at work. Of course, she had been really wrapped up in her own personal drama.

 

The woman moved to the shower and pointed out some places that Holly needed to get better. All of Holly’s modesty we replaced with the rapid succession of diseases that were running through her brain. She had narrowed it down before Gail arrived, but she wanted to make sure that she didn’t miss anything.

 

“That’s enough Dr. Stewart,” the woman stated. “You’re going to put on this suit and we’re going to go upstairs. You’ll have blood taken and be placed in a secured environment and transported to isolation at the hospital. But before you leave, you’ll have another decontamination shower.”

 

Holly turned off the water and wrung out her hair as best she could. She stepped into the paper suit. Her face had lost all emotion as Gail and the woman escorted Holly to the lobby. Holly was given a face mask as soon as she entered and was taking to a small examination area that had been set up against the far wall.

 

Gail and the woman had help taking off their suits that were put in a biohazard bin. Gail wasn’t allowed to follow Holly to the closed off area where she was being examined. Instead, she was sent outside to report to Noelle.

 

Gail saw the block had been cordoned off and all traffic in the area was halted. It was an odd sight, seeing a usually busy street so still. Gail walked straight to the incident command mobile unit and walked up the stairs into the back. Noelle greeted her immediately.

 

Gail rattled off the full report and said everything she was told to say. She kept looking behind her at the door of the medical examiner’s office. She didn’t want to miss Holly leaving.

 

“I’m sorry that Dr. Stewart was in there when this happened,” Noelle told Gail, sympathetically.

 

Gail nodded, “Me too. It’s kind of my fault though so…” Gail just trailed off when she saw the doors of the morgue opening. Holly was in a different colored paper suit and a new mask. She was put into a waiting PHAC ambulance a few feet from the front door.

 

Gail quickly looked at Noelle, “Can I go?”

 

Noelle picked up Gail’s duty belt and handed it back to her, “Go. I’ll get your statement later.” Gail started to walk down the stairs and remembered that she ran all the way to the morgue, “Can I take a squad car?”

 

Noelle stuck her head out of the mobile command unit and  looked over all the cars in the area from her vantage point, high off the the ground. She then ducked into the unit, grabbed some keys, and told Gail, “My car is the red Monte Carlo on the corner.”

 

“Thank you so much,” Gail told her and started walking off.

 

Noelle called into the mass of cops milling around waiting for direction, “Where’s McNally?”

 

Andy trotted over to the unit and looked up at Noelle, “Yes ma’am?”

 

“Go with Peck to the hospital,” Noelle instructed.

 

Gail heard Noelle tell Andy to go with her, but she didn’t slow down. She wasn’t going to let anyone delay her in any way. When she got to Noelle’s car she pressed the button on the remote in her hand to unlock it.

 

Andy barely got into the car before Gail took off down the street.

 

“Gail do you want me to drive?” Andy asked, pulling her seatbelt on as Gail sped through traffic.

 

“Now is not the time, Andy,” Gail stated evenly. She just needed to drive. She needed to hold onto something and be in control of something at the moment.

 

Andy was quiet the rest of the way. She told Gail to park at the entrance and run inside while she parked the car. Gail thanked her and followed the suggestion.

 

It took less than five minutes for Gail to find out where Holly was and run up the five flights of stairs to get to her floor. It wasn’t hard to find Holly’s isolation room. It was a large glass enclosure at the end of the hallway. There were multiple doctors, nurses, and hospital staff milling around. Some of them were just trying to see what was going on.

 

Gail made her way through the small crowd to one of the glass panels separating Holly from the rest of the world. There was an IV in her arm, but she was wearing scrubs instead of a gown. She was sitting, cross legged on the bed listening to a doctor in a biohazard suit speak to her.

 

“Hey,” Gail grabbed the most important looking person walking away and asked, “How do I talk to her?”

 

The person just pointed to an intercom on the wall next to the glass wall and walked off.

 

When it looked like the doctor was finish, Gail pressed the ‘talk’ button and called softly, “Holly.”

 

Holly’s head whipped over to look at Gail. She said something to the doctor before he nodded. The doctor moved to the decontamination area between the hallway and the exterior glass. Holly stood up, put a hand on her IV stand to roll it with her, and moved to the intercom. She pressed the ‘talk’ button and answered, “Hey Gail.”

 

“What’s going on?” Gail asked, her eyes locked on Holly, scanning for anything at all that might be wrong.

 

Holly pressed her button, “I’m being given antibiotics. I’m going to be under observation until they’ve concluded that I am not infectious or contaminated.”

 

“Do you know what it was?” Gail asked, holding Holly’s eyes. Gail saw Holly swallow and shake her head.

 

Holly pressed the button, “We won’t know until the autopsy is completed on the Jane Doe in my office.”

 

The doctor that was talking to Holly stepped out into the hallway. He walked off, leaving Gail and Holly alone. Gail didn’t even notice that Andy had moved all the people just watching along so that Gail and Holly could talk. Andy was standing down the hallway out of earshot next to a coffee machine.

 

“The PHAC woman said that you did everything right. You did what you were supposed to do,” Gail assured Holly. She knew it was important that Holly know none of this was her fault.

 

Holly put her hand next to the intercom, but didn’t press the button. She ran through everything in her head and no matter how much she tells herself that she followed protocol, she still felt like she was responsible for the emergency that happened.

 

Gail wanted Holly to say something, but she wasn’t sure she could coax out Holly’s words. She was having problems speaking herself. Finally she pressed the button again, “How do you feel?”

 

Holly looked around her room and answered, “Isolated.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Gail spoke softly through the speakers. Now that she was standing in front of the glass, there were two thick panes of glass and at least a meter of space, for decontamination of the doctors and nurses caring to Holly, between them.

 

Holly shook her head, “Don’t be sorry.” She let got of the button before pressing it again, “Gail, I -” There were tears in her eyes and she let go of the button to gather her words in her own silence. She inhaled and pressed the button again, “I love you.”

 

“I love you too,” Gail found herself tearing up as well. It was a combination of a lot of emotions, but the strongest one was the helpless feeling she had. Holly felt so far away and she couldn’t touch her. “I’m sorry for being a jerk last night. I know you need space to put your espresso maker or whatever, but I didn’t want you to move out and I was asking like a brat.”

 

Holly looked over Gail’s face. Part of her was glad that Gail admitted it, but part of her was hesitant. She licked her lips and asked, “Would you have told me that if I wasn’t in here?”

 

Gail ran her teeth over her bottom lip. She slowly nodded. She planned on telling Holly over dinner and informed Holly of her plans.

 

Holly finally broke out in a smile. Gail had grown so much emotionally. Holly wished she could hug Gail or kiss her. She wanted to touch her and hold her hand. Her smiled faded when Holly realized she was isolated and she could feel every molecule between her and the outside world, keeping them apart.

 

Holly felt her heart break when Gail walked away from the intercom. She walked the length of the glass wall so that she could get an angle to see what Gail was doing. Gail leaned over the top of the nurses station and pointed to something, saying something to the nurse sitting at the computer. The nurse reached for it and handed it to Gail. Then the nurse walked with Gail back to the glass wall.

 

Gail took a piece of tape off of the roll in her hand and taped down the talk button. Then she handed it to the nurse. The nurse put on a biohazard suit and went through the decontamination room and into Holly’s room. The nurse handed the tape to Holly who did the same thing.

 

Of course, the nurse wasn’t going to waste the trip just to let Holly and Gail speak freely without pushing buttons. She did a thorough check of Holly, including closing the curtain between them and the hallway so that she could inspect Holly’s body completely for any kind of abnormality.

 

When she was done, she came back out like the doctor before her, and Holly pulled back the curtain.

 

“Your shirt is on backwards,” Gail told Holly.

 

Holly looked down and shrugged, “You can barely tell.” Holly sat on the bed and looked at Gail. She only sat there for a moment before moving back to the glass. She was far enough away from Gail. She didn’t want to voluntarily add an extra meter.

 

There wasn’t anything in her room, but a bed and some medical supplies so Holly adjusted the height of her IV stand and sat on the floor.

 

“Are you okay?” Gail asked, following Holly’s lead and sitting on the floor in the hallway.

 

Holly nodded. “It’s just been a long morning.”

 

Gail agreed. She looked down the hallway at Andy who was still loitering out of earshot. Gail called to her and Andy walked over. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing,” Gail looked up at her from her seat on the floor, “You can take Noelle back her car now. I’m going to be here for a while.”

 

“Do you want me to get you some different clothes?” Andy asked, pulling the car keys out of her pocket and playing with them in her hand. “Or something to eat? I can put your gun up in your locker.”

 

Gail could see that Andy really wanted to help. She wasn’t usually one that could just stand idly by. Gail stood up, took off her duty belt and handed it to Andy. Then she fished her keys out of her pocket. “I’ll text you my address. Just get something comfortable.”

 

“Okay,” Andy nodded. She carefully adjusted the full and loaded duty belt in her arm and walked off.

 

“Thank you,” Gail called softly after her as if it pained her to say it.  


“You don’t have to stay,” Holly crossed her legs in front of herself, “It’s going to be so boring. I’m just going to be sitting here and maybe watching TV later.”

 

Gail tapped the glass and shook her head, “I’m not going anywhere.”

 

Holly smiled again. Gail smiled back for a different reason. She was just so glad that Holly was okay. She couldn’t articulate the swell of absolute fear she felt when she heard that there were police needed at the morgue.

 

Gail sent a text to Andy with her address and a request for something else.

 

Holly looked around the isolation room and sighed, “I bet my phone is being incinerated.”

 

“Anything you take into that room will be incinerated too?” Gail asked.

 

Holly nodded, “Most likely. Which is why I didn’t ask for a book.”

 

“God forbid,” Gail grinned, knowing that Holly’s love of books kept her from taking part in anything that would eliminate one of her favorites from the world.

 

Andy returned in less than an hour with a bag of clothes and Holly’s laptop. Andy handed the bag over and explained, “If I haven’t seen you wear it before I wasn’t sure what was your and what was Holly’s so I just kinda guessed.”

 

“It’s fine,” Gail nodded to her, “Thanks.”

 

Andy looked into the glass of the isolation room and found Holly on the floor, “Do you need anything?”

 

Holly politely smiled and shook her head, “No thank you. Anything in here with me right now would have to be incinerated.”

 

“Oh, that’s sucks,” Andy tried to sympathise. She turned to Gail, “Oliver asked me to come back on shift because we’re down a few people who are still at the crime lab.”

 

“Yeah that’s fine,” Gail gestured down the hallway, “Go ahead.”

 

Gail opened the bag as Andy walked off and looked inside of it. There was a mix of both hers and Holly’s clothes in the bag so she just grabbed some of Holly’s sweatpants and a t-shirt. Gail changed in the middle of the hallway much to Holly’s shock.

 

“What are you doing?” Holly asked, through the intercom.

 

“This is a hospital,” Gail kicked off her pants and pulled on the sweatpants, “This is probably the best thing they’ve seen all day.”

 

Holly grinned, “Well it’s the best thing I’ve seen all day.”

 

Gail pulled on the t-shirt over the undershirt she wore under her uniform and looked at Holly’s mischievous expression through the glass. “You’re a perv.”

 

Once she was done getting redressed, Gail folded up her uniform and put it in the bag. She took Holly’s laptop out of the bag and opened it. She moved her back to lean on the glass and face Holly. Holly watched Gail click around on the screen and saw her pull up townhouse listings. Gail zoomed in on the screen to make everything bigger and looked over her shoulder at Holly, “Can you see that?”

 

Holly nodded, “Yeah.”

 

“Okay,” Gail moved to the filtering bar at the top of the screen, “Two or three bedrooms?”

 

“Three would be nice,” Holly offered, glad that Gail was distracting her with a much more pleasant task, “Or two bedrooms and an office.”

 

Gail put in the search parameters and executed. She looked back at Holly who she remembered didn’t have her glasses anymore so she zoomed in on the screen a little bit more.

 

While they were looking through listings, Holly’s dinner was served through a secure slot at the far end of the isolation room. Gail grabbed some chips from the vending machine. Holly glared at her for her unhealthy selection and Gail asked her what she was going to do about it.

 

“Hmm,” Holly poked at her limp hospital salad and countered Gail, “You know I’m going to do all the grocery shopping for us.”

 

“That’s fine as as long as I get to decorate the bedroom,” Gail went to the next listing.

 

“No deal,” Holly speared some lettuce and looked through the glass at Gail.

 

Gail turned around and looked at Holly, “Why not? All your bedroom stuff matches too much.”

 

“Matches _too much_?” Holly raised her eyebrows.

 

“Yeah,” Gail stated.

 

Holly held Gail’s eyes before slowly shaking her head, “This is going to be an experience.” Holly took a bite of her salad and finished it before adding, “We should both just get rid of all of our furniture and start over. That’s really the only fair way to settle this.”

 

“Agreed,” Gail nodded. “But we’re keeping the rolling bathroom drawer thing. I love that.” Gail turned back to the listing and started going through them.

 

Holly tapped on the glass when she saw one she liked, “What about that one?”

 

“Nope,” Gail went right past it, “McNally lives in that building.”

 

“I’m not saying that we should move in with her,” Holly countered, “It’s a nice apartment.”

 

“So is this one,” Gail opened up a detailed listing and showed it to Holly.

 

Holly quietly watched the slideshow of pictures. “Yeah that one is nice.”

 

“You don’t like it,” Gail looked through that glass.

 

“I do,” Holly answered. “Really. I’m just not really a fan of that neighborhood.”

 

Gail looked back at the listing, “Why? There were virtually no violent crimes against people in that neighborhood last year.”

 

“There were three homicides,” Holly tilted her head.

 

“You two sound like you’re a lot of fun to go house shopping with,” Steve said as she walked up to his sister. He had flowers in his hand and looked in the isolation room, “I guess you can’t really have these huh?”

 

“Not really, but they’re nice,” Holly smiled up at Steve, “Thank you.”

 

“Fair warning,” Steve looked down at Gail and handed her the flowers, “Mom and Dad are on their way to check on their favorite child.”

 

Gail turned away from Steve to look at Holly, “Told you you’re their favorite.”

 

Elaine and Bill arrived and gushed over Holly. They asked if she felt okay or if any of her symptoms were cause for worry. Holly assured them that she was fine and that no matter what it could be, it would be taken care of by the IV in her arm.

 

While they were there, a doctor came in to check on her. She had to sit up on the bed and get a general medical examination.

 

“How is she really?” Elaine looked at her daughter far enough away from the intercom.

 

Gail shrugged, “I think she’s worried. She blames herself for what happened.”

 

Elaine frowned and walked right up to the intercom, “Holly, honey.” She waited for Holly to look at her. “None of this was your fault. You did everything according to protocol. You probably saved a lot of people by catching this when you did and sealing yourself in there with him.” Holly wanted to look away, but it didn’t seem that she could. Elaine was commanding her attention. “You are the best person anyone could have picked for that job. You know exactly what to do in emergency situations and you are the best at what you do.”

 

Holly blinked slowly, “Thank you, Elaine.” She wasn’t sure she believed her, but if overly critical Elaine didn’t blame her, then she felt a little less guilty about tanking the entire office.

 

Then Bill tried to update Holly on the progress of the garden. He tried to show her pictures, but she was too far away to see the small screen on the phone, plus she didn’t have her glasses. But she was too polite to say she couldn’t see it because he seemed so excited.

 

“I was thinking of expanding the garden a little,” Bill put his phone away, “Maybe add a few rows of squash and pumpkins. They’ll be ready in time for Thanksgiving.”

 

“That’s a great idea,” Holly smiled happily. She never really had parents so she guessed this was something close to what it felt like.

 

Bill put his hands in his pockets, “I could definitely use the help. God knows those two would run away screaming if they got dirt on their hands.” He gestured with her elbow toward Gail and Steve.

 

Holly laughed and caught Gail’s eyes over Bill’s shoulder. Gail was trying to pretend to be offended, but was failing miserably. She was just happy that Holly was smiling.

 

Holly returned her attention to Bill, “I would love to help you expand the garden.”

 

Gail let her dad talk to Holly about the weather, traffic, and sports before she shooed both of her parents away. It was getting late anyway so they both said their goodbyes to Holly willingly. Elaine again told Holly that she did everything she was supposed to do and Bill promised to buy a new trowel for then they got to working on the garden, “together this time.”

 

“Why don’t you go home too?” Holly asked Gail after Steve followed his parents out.

 

Gail shook her head. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, I’m not leaving.”

 

“There’s nowhere for you to sleep,” Holly pointed out. She even thought for a half second that that would matter to Gail or change her mind in some way.

 

Gail just rolled her eyes. She looked around. She walked down the hallway a little bit and returned with a waiting room chair. She sat down and grinned at Holly with a self-satisfied smirk, “See? Not leaving.”

 

Holly wanted to reach through the glass and touch Gail. She wanted to feel her face and kiss her lips. She just wanted to feel Gail holding her. Holly put one of her hands against the glass and found it almost completely the opposite of actually touching Gail.

 

Holly sighed and moved back to her bed. She checked the feet of the bed and found that they were on wheels. She disengaged the break and pushed the bed closer to the window. The cord connecting the bed to the outlet in the wall stopped her from pushing it all the way to the window, but it was close enough that she could lay in bed and talk to Gail.

 

Holly laid down and pulled her pillow under her head, “I’m tired.”

 

Gail nodded, “I bet. You should go to sleep.”

 

“Will you be here when I wake up?” Holly asked softly and insecurely.

 

Gail smiled, “I already told you, I’m not going anywhere.”

 

A young man quickly walked over to the door of the isolation room with a clipboard. He hung it up next to the door and stepped into the room where he picked up a clean biohazard suit.

 

Gail and Holly exchanged a confused look before Gail stood out of her chair, “What are you doing?”

 

The man looked over at her with a smile, “I’m Dr. Friedrich. I’m here to check on patient Stewart’s condition.”

 

“Okay, well first of all it’s _Dr_. Stewart,” Gail quipped. She moved closer to the glass, “Second of all, you’re a fetus.”

 

“I’m a doctor,” Friedrich smiled at Gail amusedly.

 

Holly was sitting up in her bed, “You’re an intern and you forgot the respirator.”

 

Friedrich looked around and then crossed his eyes to see that the respirator was, in fact, missing. He pulled off the hood, “It’s fine. It’ll be fine.”

 

“Oh my god,” Gail’s eyes got wider when she realized that Dr. Friedrich may actually be the doctor equivalent of Dov on their first week on duty.

 

Dr. Friedrich got the respirator adjusted and moved toward the door into Holly’s room. Holly quickly moved to the door and pressed the emergency lock button.

 

“What are you doing?” Dr. Friedrich asked.

 

Holly pointed at him, “You forgot your gloves.”

 

He looked down at his hands, “Oh yeah.” He moved to the glove bin and pulled two out, “Sorry. I’m just really excited. This is my first infectious disease case.”

 

“No it’s not,” Gail put her hands on the glass, trying to reach through it and grab the baby doctor, “It’s not your case at all. Get out.”

 

Holly looked Friedrich over and motioned for him to turn around. Friedrich did as he was told and after Holly checked him out, she released the emergency lock.

 

“What are you doing?” Gail couldn’t believe what was happening in front of her.

 

“Everyone was new at their job at one time,” Holly smiled over her shoulder to Gail. “Except you of course. You were born the perfect cop.”

 

Gail rolled her eyes and sat back down. “Make sure and remind Junior how to get out of there without contaminating the whole city.”

 

After a brief examination, Friedrich asked Holly about what kind of medicine she practiced. She told him and he got creeped out and left. Holly thought it was funny. She got that reaction a lot and was used to it.

 

“So we get to sleep now?” Gail asked, watching Holly move to the bed.

 

Holly hopped up on the bed and nodded, “Definitely. I’m so -” She stopped talking when she saw someone walk up to the window with flowers in her hand. It wasn’t someone she had seen in a long time and not really someone she ever expected to see again.

 

“Sue the Bomb Girl?” Gail looked from Sue to Holly and back. “What are you doing here?”

 

Holly licked her top lip like she always did when she was thinking and nervous. “Well, Sue and I dated. Briefly.”

 

“No way,” Sue looked at Gail and back at Holly, “She’s your ex that you weren’t over.”

 

Holly nodded.

 

“Well, um, lucky you,” Sue told Gail. She gestured to the flowers and looked back at Holly, “I’m guessing you can’t have flowers in there.”

 

“You’d be guessing correctly,” Holly smiled gently.

 

Sue offered them to Gail. “I just came by to see if Holly was okay and drop these off.” When Gail took the flowers Sue put her hands in the pockets of her tactical pants. “I’m on call so…” Sue pointed at Gail, “Nice hair by the way. It looks good on you.”

 

Gail looked absolutely bewildered and replied, “Thank you.”

 

“Thank you, Sue,” Holly said into the intercom, “They’re lovely.”

 

Sue smiled to Holly and then nodded to herself. She walked off with a smile on her face. She never would have guessed Gail and Holly were together, but when she thought about it, it made sense.

 

“Sue dated Dov,” Gail pointed in the direction that the bomb tech walked off in.

 

“Sue is bisexual,” Holly stated. She moved back to the bed and laid down. “Do me a favor and look down the hallway to make sure that no one else we know is coming. I just want to go to sleep.”

 

Gail looked down the hallway, “Nope. None of your other ex girlfriends that you never told me about are coming.”

 

Holly rolled her eyes. “I have had more pressing matters over the past few weeks than to give you a play by play of everything I did while we were apart.”

 

Gail laid sideways across the chair, “We’ll save the play by play for tomorrow.”

 

“I look forward to it,” Holly laid her head down on the pillow and looked at Gail. She smiled softly at Gail. “Thank you for staying.”

 

Gail just smiled back, not having to say that someone would have had to drag her unconscious body out of the hospital for her to leave. “Goodnight, Holly.”

 

“Goodnight,” Holly replied. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

 

Gail looked at the flowers on the ground by her chair. She looked over at Holly and watched her sleep. She was lucky to have Holly back, but she felt bad that Holly had to be put through the ringer to bring them back to where they were.

 

Gail watched Holly sleep for a while before a nurse offered Gail an extra blanket and pillow. She helped Gail get two more chairs to line up so she could lay across all of them in the most comfortable thing they could cobble together.

 

The nurse offered to take the flowers if Gail didn’t want them. Normally Gail would want to get anything that Holly’s ex had given her far away, but they were beautiful flowers and Holly was stuck in a bland, sterile roome. She hoped the flowers gave Holly something beautiful to look at. Besides Gail of course.

 

Gail fell asleep watching Holly through the glass, hoping that everything would turn out okay.

 


	16. Chapter 16

“I can’t believe that you didn’t call me,” was the sentence that woke Gail up. She slowly sat up and ran a hand through her already wild hair. When she looked into the isolation room she saw a biohazard suit clad person with their hands on their hips talking to Holly.

 

Holly smiled, “Sorry. My phone was incinerated.”

 

“I talked to the PHAC doctors,” the woman talking to Holly said. Gail found her voice very familiar. The woman gestured with her palms up in the air, “They wouldn’t tell me anything.”

 

“Well you’re probably not even supposed to be here,” Holly pointed out.

 

“Yeah well, my best friend is in isolation,” the woman touched Holly’s shoulder with a gloved hand, “I thought I’d risk it and make sure that you were okay.”

 

Gail rose from her chair and Holly finally saw her. When Holly saw her the woman in the biohazard suit turned around as well. Rachel smiled at Gail. She waved to Gail. Gail waved back with a blank stare.

 

Rachel looked Holly over and watched the monitors next to the bed. She checked the IV bag and the tape holding it into Holly’s arm. She was probably the most thorough doctor that had been in there the entire time.

 

“I think the only thing you haven’t done is give me a colonoscopy,” Holly commented when Rachel was finally done.

 

Rachel smiled, “I’m just worried.”

 

“I’ll be fine,” Holly promised.

 

Rachel and Holly said their goodbyes. They shared an awkward hug because of the biohazard suit. It didn’t even really feel like a hug to Holly. It was cold and the plastic was uncomfortable. Holly never knew how much she’d miss human touch until she couldn’t have it anymore.

 

Rachel stopped next to Gail after decontaminating. “Do you need anything? I don’t have to be at work for another hour and a half. I can go get you something to eat.”

 

Gail looked at Holly who was getting back into bed. “Um, if it’s not any trouble I could use some coffee and whatever they have at the cafeteria.”

 

Rachel shook her head, “There’s a great bakery across the street. They have great coffee.” She patted Gail’s shoulder, “I’ll be right back.”

 

Gail went to stand up so that she could stretch after Rachel walked off and her heard a crunch under her feet. When she looked down she saw that she had stepped on the flowers that Sue brought the night before. She looked up at Holly who she was sure heard it.

 

Holly quirked an eyebrow and Gail immediately started defending herself, “It was an accident.”

 

Holly smiled, “Sure it was.” She gestured to the chairs that Gail put together to form a bed, “How did you sleep on your frankenbed?”

 

“Better than I thought I would,” Gail shrugged. Gail looked Holly over making sure that she was okay before she gestured to the nurses’ bathroom next to the nurses’ station, “I’m going to use the bathroom.” Gail bent down and dug in her bag that Andy had brought and said a silent thanks to Andy for remembering a tooth brush. “I’ll be right back.”

 

Holly shrugged and looked around her room, “I’ll still be here.”

 

Gail shot Holly a sympathetic look. It had to be hard to feel so confined.

 

Holly just sighed softly, “I’m going to take a shower.” She started moving into the bathroom and found that there wasn’t actually a towel. Just a paper towel dispenser. She sighed again, “Awesome.”

 

Gail’s heart broke for Holly. She hoped that she would be allowed to leave later that day. It was getting harder on both of them. But Gail wasn’t concerned about herself. She could sleep on a pretend bed and live off of vending machine food for as long as she needed to. There was also comfort in the fact that if she wanted to leave she could. That was what was breaking Holly.

 

Gail left the bathroom with much calmer hair and an empty bladder. The threw her toothbrush back into the bag and grabbed the laptop. Just as she sat down, she smelled coffee walking her way.

 

“Thank you so much,” Gail stood up when Rachel neared.

 

Rachel smiled, “It’s really the least I could do.” She set the tray of three coffees down on Gail’s chair bed. “Is Holly in the bathroom? I got her a muffin.”

 

Gail nodded. “She’s taking a shower.” She picked up one of the coffees and took a sip. She moaned because it was so good.

 

Rachel pulled out a small white box from the bag she was carrying. “Don’t tell Holly.” Rachel opened the box and revealed two donuts.

 

“Have I told you that you’re my favorite one of Holly’s friends?” Gail grinned mischievously and took a donut out of the box.

 

“I would hope so,” Rachel smiled. “And for the record, you’re my favorite one of Holly’s girlfriends.”

 

Gail looked down and kicked at the crushed flowers on the ground, “Even Sue?”

 

“Sue was nice,” Rachel assured Gail, “But you make her happy.”

 

Gail looked back into the isolation room as Rachel walked to the secure slot for scooting Holly food like a prisoner. She set the coffee and bag with the muffin in it on the tray and pushed it through the slot until Holly could retrieve them when she was ready.

 

Gail asked with a bite of donut in her mouth, “How’s Lisa?”

 

“Still shallow,” Rachel walked back over to Gail. “She sent me six selfies that she took in her new Porsche yesterday.” Rachel put her hands on her hips, “but she’s also still trying to do some good. I just wish she wouldn’t take donated food from her office to the food bank in her Porsche. She’s tactless. She’ll probably come here for a visit later, so fair warning if you want to vacate.”

 

“I’m not leaving,” Gail repeated the statement that had been her mantra since Holly was locked into isolation.

 

“Okay then,” Rachel took out her phone, “Since Holly’s phone is just ashes now, can I have your number so I can call and check in?”

 

“Absolutely,” Gail nodded. She took a sip of her coffee and then rattled off her phone number.

 

Rachel saved Gail’s number and then lingered for another minute. “I guess I’m going to have to leave before Holly gets out of the shower. Tell Holly I said to get better faster. I want to take the two of you out for drinks.”

 

Gail smiled cautiously. Last time they went out for drinks wasn’t the best experience. “Okay.”

 

Rachel laughed at Gail’s expression. “I promise I won’t invite...what did you call her? Botched boob job.” Rachel laughed again, “I’ll have to remember that for next time she’s being an ass.”

 

“Well, you probably won’t have to wait long,” Gail joked.

 

Rachel pulled Gail into a hug and then held her at arm’s length, “You’re right. I’ll see you later. Take care of Holly okay?”

 

“Always,” Gail assured her.

 

Meanwhile in the isolation bathroom, Holly was trying to rinse out the unscented hospital shampoo from her hair with lukewarm water. When she figured she got enough out, Holly turned off the shower. Standing in the shower, waiting to drip dry wasn’t going to fly, but she was sure there weren’t enough paper towels in the dispense to dry her entire body. So Holly wrung out her hair and used her hands to squeegee the water off of her body as much as she could before resorting to paper towels.

 

Of course she hadn’t been given clean clothes yet so she put on the scrubs she was wearing before. They had another day or so in them before they started to smell, but Holly hoped that she would be out of there before then.

 

It took another wad of paper towels to get her hair acceptably dry. It was still damp, but it wasn’t dripping anymore. Holly quickly braided her hair down the side so that she wouldn’t have to deal with it. Then she reinserted the IV into her left arm and walked out of the bathroom.

 

Her bad mood lifted a little when she smelt food. She was starving. She saw that there was coffee and a paper bag in the food slot. She shuffled over and retrieved her breakfast.

 

“Rachel brought you breakfast,” Gail offered, sitting in the middle of her chair bed. She eyed the donut box next to her. She really wanted to eat the second one, but Holly would definitely not approve.

 

Holly picked it up and moved to her bed, looking like all the energy was drained from her body, “That was nice of her.”

 

It was really getting to Gail how down Holly was. She scooted to the edge of the chairs and leaned forward toward the glass, “Hey.” She waited for Holly to look at her before asking, “What can I do?”

 

Holly looked down and shook her head. “Nothing. I just want to get out of here.”

 

“I’m sure you will soon,” Gail offered softly, “Rachel said it’ll be soon. I’ll take off a week and we’ll do whatever you want.”

 

Holly didn’t look up. She just nodded and took the muffin out of her bag.

 

Gail sighed. She wished that she could say something to help Holly feel better. She swallowed and just watched Holly nibble on her muffin. She softly added, “I’m sorry.”

 

Holly looked up at Gail feeling bad that she was dragging Gail down with her. “It’s not your fault. Don’t be sorry.”

 

Gail was feeling uncharacteristically sentimental. She touched the glass and smiled, “You know when you get out of there, I’m not going to let you go for like a month.”

 

Holly bit her bottom lip over a smile, “I would love that.”

 

“I love you,” Gail offered, knowing that she couldn’t show Holly right then so she had to settle for just saying it.

 

“I love you too,” Holly replied, “So much.” She rolled her coffee in her hands, “Thank you for staying.”

 

At that point, Gail knew that she didn’t have to tell Holly that someone would have drag her out of that hospital unconscious for her to leave. Gail folded her hands together. “Do you want to keep looking for apartments? Or watch a movie? Or something?”

 

Holly sipped her coffee. She picked up her muffin and moved to the glass. She sat down next to it and leaned her back on the wall. “Let’s look at places to live. Big open places.”

 

Gail smiled and picked up the laptop. She sat down on the floor sideways to be as close to Holly as possible although they were still separated by two pieces of glass and four feet of air.

 

“So do you want a backyard?” Gail asked, getting the other donut from the box and eating it.

 

“How many donuts have you had?” Holly asked, but didn’t expect an answer.

 

Gail just looked over her shoulder at Holly and smiled, “Backyard?”

 

“I’m open to the idea,” Holly shrugged. She took a bite of her muffin and chewed thoughtfully, “Only because I want a hot tub.”

 

Gail ran a hand through her hair, causing it to sort of stick up in the front. “That sounds awesome. Basement?”

 

“I don’t care,” Holly leaned to the side so that she could see the houses that Gail was scrolling past, “What do you want in a house?”

 

“I’ve never thought about buying a house before,” Gail scratched the back of her neck and caught Holly’s eyes through the glass.

Holly smiled softly, knowing that Gail never really committed too much to things, but she was willing to buy a house with her or at the very least put her name on the lease.

 

They spent the better part of the next hour, looking at houses and townhouses. Holly was trying to push their budget a little higher, but Gail was adamant that they were going to to 50/50 on the house and she was already at her max.

 

“I don’t care how much you like it,” Gail frowned.

 

Holly was teasing Gail, but Gail was putting her foot down, “Fine, we don’t have to move to your parents’ neighborhood.”

 

“I don’t know how much more bromance between you and my dad that I can handle,” the blonde ruffled her hair, “If we live close to them, you’ll start building sheds and barns together. No way.”

 

“Barns?” Holly asked, amused.

 

“You know what I mean,” Gail clicked on a row house and showed Holly, “What about this one?”

 

“That’s beautiful,” Holly leaned closer to the glass so she could see it better. “I love the brick.”

 

Gail bookmarked the listing and was about to go back to the search results when she saw a doctor walking toward her. An actual, grown up doctor. She stood up seeing her move toward the door to the room. She put on a biohazard suit and then went into the room with Holly.

 

She smiled kindly, “So far so good, Dr. Stewart?”

 

Holly nodded, “I feel fine.”

 

“Good,” she patted the bed and got Holly to move from the floor onto the bed. “I’m just going to take a blood sample and if it’s all clear we’ll release you.”

 

Holly’s first reaction to the news was to look at Gail. She wanted nothing more than to get out of her isolation room and touch Gail. She wanted to hold her and not let go for a long time.

 

Gail looked excited. She was finally going to get to hold Holly and know for sure that Holly was okay She’s been an idling state of panic since she heard that there was a situation at the morgue. When she could touch Holly, she would know that everything was okay.

 

After Holly’s blood was taken, the doctor promised to get it to the lab as soon as possible. When she was gone, Gail asked Holly how long that would take.

 

“Depends on what’s going on in their lab,” Holly shrugged and moved back to the window. “You can throw those flowers away, since you already tried to destroy them.”

 

“It was an accident,” Gail sighed looking at the roses that she accidentally stepped on.

 

Holly just smiled, letting Gail know she was teasing. Gail picked up the flowers and tossed them into a nearby garbage bin. She sat back down on the floor and picked up the computer.

 

They had settled on a few places to look at before Gail got distracted by a game that was advertised on the real estate site.

 

Holly went back to the bed and laid down, looking at the ceiling. Isolation might not be so bad if she wasn’t excruciatingly bored.

 

“Dr. Stewart?” a voice came from the doorway. Both Gail and Holly’s attention was snapped to the voice. It was the woman that was in charge at the incident scene. She had a file in her hands and looked it over before pressing a series of buttons next to the door to the isolation room. Both of the doors slid open at the same time and she walked in without a bioharzard suit, “You’re all clear.”

 

Holly was so shocked by the sudden news, she could barely move. The woman took the IV out of Holly’s arm and stood next to Holly waiting for some kind of reaction.

 

It was only a moment later that Holly slid off of the bed. She quickly walked through the open doors and threw her arms around Gail. She closed her eyes and squeezed Gail tight, tears slipping out from under her closed eyelids. It felt so good to feel Gail under her arms. She could feel Gail’s warmth and her breaths. She could smell Gail and it was almost overloading her senses.

 

Holly pulled away and slid her hands onto Gail’s face. She used her thumbs to stroke the smooth skin on Gail’s cheeks. She took a moment to admire Gail up close before pulling Gail’s lips to her own. There was usually a moment of hesitation to let Gail meet her in the middle, but Holly threw herself into the kiss.

Gail’s hands were on Holly’s shirt over the small of her back. She was pulling Holly close to her, but it wasn’t enough. She slipped her hands under Holly’s shirt because she needed to feel her skin.

 

Holly was the first to remember that they were still in the hospital. “Can we please go home?”

 

Gail nodded. She smiled and kissed Holly again. “Let’s go home.”

 

They had to take a cab home because Gail’s car was still at 15. It was nice though because neither one had to drive. They just got to hold each other all the way back to the apartment. They smiled as they ran up the stairs to the apartment, holding hands all the way up the stairs.

 

Gail pulled out her keys and turned to the lock on the door. Holly draped herself over Gail’s back and kissed the side of her neck. She smiled when Gail was fumbling, “Do you need help?”

 

Holly didn’t wait for Gail to answer. She snaked her arms around Gail and placed her hand on top of the blonde’s.  She steadied Gail’s hands and helped her slide the key into the lock.

 

Gail took over from there. She turned the key, sliding the lock back into it’s housing. Gail’s hands fumbled again when Holly gently ran her teeth over the side of her neck.

 

When the door opened, it slammed open, bouncing off of the wall behind it. Gail turned around and pulled Holly into the apartment by her hips. Holly managed to kick the door closed, before she could lock it, Gail pulled her toward the bedroom.

 

Their lips met again in the doorway of the bedroom. Holly tripped over the bag that Gail dropped in the middle of the floor because she was being attacked from behind. Gail caught her and took a step back toward the bed.

 

Holly used that momentum to essentially tackle Gail onto the bed. Gail landed with a laugh, trying to scoot up the bed so that Holly didn’t slide off the foot of the bed.

 

They both moved to the head of the bed and rested their heads on the pillows. The frenzy was gone almost suddenly. Holly held Gail’s eyes as their movements slowed. She slid her hands to rest on the sides of Gail’s neck. She ran her thumbs over Gail’s jaw and felt Gail’s hands snake under her shirt again, just to feel her skin. Gail saw that Holly needed to slow down for a moment and welcomed it.

 

Slowly, Holly moved closer to Gail, crossing her arms behind Gail’s head. She closed her eyes when their bodies were pressed together. Gail held Holly tight around her waist, trying to be the support that she felt Holly needed in that moment.

 

After a minute, Gail moved one of her hands up to the back of Holly’s head and slid her fingers in Holly’s hair.

 

Holly knew that she was acting weird. She wanted to jump Gail the second that she got out of the isolation room, but this was something she needed more. “Just...don’t let go.”

 

Gail tightened her grip on Holly. She constricted her arms and kissed Holly’s cheek. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She rolled onto her back, pulling Holly on top of her.

 

The doctor laughed and kept her arms securely around Gail. “I love you,” Holly closed her eyes and tangled her legs in Gail’s because she felt like she couldn’t get close enough to Gail.

 


	17. Epilogue

Gail was cleaning her gun on the dining table when she heard the front door open. Holly was talking, probably on the phone because as Chief Medical Examiner her phone was perpetually ringing.

 

“Okay. Thanks, Elaine,” Holly said as the door shut. She walked out of the entryway and rounded the corner. She had an armful of books and papers that she promptly set down on the sofa table as she walked into the living room. She ran a hand through her hair as she listened on the phone. “Okay. Yeah….Definitely. I’ll see you then…” Holly laughed, “Tell Bill I said hi back.” Finally Holly hung up.

 

“You are way too friendly with my parents,” Gail  looked up at Holly. She grabbed her hand when she got close enough and pulled Holly down into her lap.

 

Holly smiled and kissed Gail. Her hands started on Gail’s shoulders before trailing up her neck, then up the back of her head, into her hair. She pulled back and moved her hands to cup Gail’s jaw on both sides. When Gail looked up at her, Holly smiled wider and kissed her.When she was done filling her kiss quota, she looked around their house, “I see you did a lot of unpacking while I was at work.”

 

She was being sarcastic. It looked like Gail had maybe moved one box. Gail smiled up at Holly, “No, but I did take a nap and I took apart my gun.”

 

Holly looked over her shoulder at the disassembled gun on the table. “I can see that.”

 

“What were you talking to my mom about?” Gail asked, holding Holly around her waist.

 

“She and Bill are going to pick us up for the charity event on Friday,” Holly ran her hands through Gail’s hair causing a soft wave of blonde.

 

Gail groaned and buried her face in Holly’s shoulder, “I thought I was going to get to stop going to those when I moved out of my parents’ house.”

 

“Well, now I’m expected to go to these things,” Holly rested her cheek on Gail’s forehead. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

 

Gail fished something out of her pocket and picked up her head. She looked up at Holly and asked, “Of course I’m going. How would it look if the Chief Medical Examiner didn’t show up with her fiancee?”

 

Holly shrugged, “I don’t think it would look too bad.” She adjusted her glasses before it really registered what Gail had said. “Did you say fiancee?”

 

Gail smiled slyly. She flipped the box in her hand open and showed it to Holly. “I mean, if you say yes.” She stole a kiss while Holly was still speechless, “Will you marry me?”

 

The End.

 


End file.
